3 killed, including suspect, in shooting during Rhode Island youth hockey game

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) — Three people, including the suspect, were fatally shot during a Rhode Island youth hockey game Monday, authorities said.

Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves told reporters that three other victims were hospitalized in critical condition. The shooter died from an apparent self-inflicted gun wound, she said.

While police were not involved in the shooter's death, authorities were still investigating, she said.

“It appears that this was a targeted event, that it may be a family dispute,” she said.

Goncalves did not provide details about the suspect or the ages of those who were killed, though she said it appeared that both victims were adults.

She said investigators were trying to piece together what happened and speak with witnesses of the shooting inside Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, a few miles outside Providence. They also were reviewing video taken from the hockey game. Unverified footage circulating on social media shows players diving for cover and fans fleeing their seats after popping sounds are heard.

Outside the arena, tearful families and high school hockey players still in uniform could be seen hugging before they boarded a bus to leave the area. Roads surrounding the arena were shut down as a heavy police presence remained and helicopters flew overhead.

Monday's shooting comes nearly two months after Rhode Island was rocked by a separate gun violence tragedy at Brown University, where a gunman killed two students and wounded nine others. That shooter went on to also fatally shoot a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor. Authorities later found Claudio Neves Valente, 48, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a New Hampshire storage facility.

“The fortunate thing is that the two incidents are not related, but it is very tragic,” said Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien. “These are high school kids. They were doing an event, they were playing with their families watching, a fun time, and it turned into this.”

Pawtucket is nestled just north of Providence and right under the Massachusetts state border. A city of just under 80,000, Pawtucket had up until recently been known as the home to Hasbro’s headquarters.

This story has been corrected to show that the shooting occurred on Monday, not Tuesday.

Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed to this report.

High school hockey players and parents speak to a police officer near the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, R.I., after a shooting at the ice rink, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

Hockey fans react near the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, R.I., after a shooting at the ice rink, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

Hockey parents congregate near the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, R.I., after a shooting at the ice rink, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

Hockey parents and a player speak to a police officer outside of the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, R.I., after a shooting at the ice rink, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

A father hugs his son outside of the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, R.I., after a shooting at the ice rink, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

A woman reacts near the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, R.I., after a shooting at the ice rink, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

MILAN (AP) — Jordan Cowan hoists his camera mount and glides across the Olympic rink as figure skating competitors warm up and, later, take their bows. Dressed in an ice-white tuxedo, he is as inconspicuous as possible.

The former U.S. competitive ice dancer is the first camera operator on figure skating ice in Olympic history, capturing intimate moments that the overhead or sideboard cameras cannot. While he isn’t on the ice during the routines, Cowan skates backward after each program to record up close what is often a raw moment of pure joy or disappointment for broadcast globally to viewers at home and on big screens for the arena spectators.

“To be the first person out on the ice at the end of their performance is such a privilege, and I definitely want them to feel their feelings,″ Cowan said in an interview before the pairs short program on Sunday. “The ice is a sacred place for a skater.”

At no moment during these Games were the contrasting emotions starker and Cowan’s job more delicate than after American skater Ilia Malinin’s two free program skates.

The 21-year-old punched excitedly at Cowan’s camera after he aced his long program in the team competition, helping Team USA clinch the gold medal. After Malinin botched his final free in the singles competition, Cowan kept his distance as the skater crumbled into a grimace of abject disappointment.

“I’m there to tell the audience, ‘It’s going to be OK, he’s still here.’ You know, you finish a program, you’re still alive. There’ll be another day. To see Ilia’s emotion really is just part of his story,” Cowan said.

While on-ice cameras have long been part of speed skating and hockey, Cowan has helped create the niche for figure skating.

After retiring from competitive skating in 2011, he worked in ballroom dancing and was inspired by how television motivated amateurs to learn new dances. He wanted the same for skating and so in 2018 he started his company, On Ice Perspectives, since when he has since been creating viral video moments from all levels of figure skating across his social media platforms.

At the Milan Cortina Winter Games he is working for the Olympic Broadcasting Services, which provides footage to national broadcasting rights holders. He has filmed three U.S. Championships, the 2021 world exhibition gala, and ice shows internationally.

Cowan loves when skaters engage with him as they leave the ice. Many realize he has a microphone and send messages to loved ones. They regularly make heart signs with their hands.

“For that brief window at the end of the program, when you get to take in the audience by yourself, by having this silent camera slowly available to you, it gives a special moment that we have never been able to capture before,'' he said.

Cowan trains with Pilates and yoga to handle the camera while matching athletes’ speed. He has designed his own rig, starting with a light-weight steady camera mounted on an electronic stabilized gimbal, maintaining a level horizon no matter how much wind he catches. He’s added manual focus, cinema zoom and wireless transmission.

Besides the skate-on and skate-off moments during competition, he is also on the ice for the medals ceremonies and will be there for the closing gala when the top competitors perform their crowd-pleasing signature moves.

The gala is a unique challenge, as he will have to read their moves to both stay out of their way and capture the moment. It’s a skill that competitive skaters pick up from training alongside teammates and competitors.

His skating abilities and familiarity with the athletes and their programs make it work. And to blend into the icy background as much as possible, Cowan has been experimenting with both gray and white skating looks.

“I’ve trained myself to be able to follow skaters without knowing the choreography,” he said. “They know they don’t have to look out for me, and I’m going to do everything I can to stay out of their way because safety is my number one priority. The perfect compliment I get is when the skaters say they didn’t even realize I was out there.”

Jordan Cowan operates the steadicam before the pairs figure skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Jordan Cowan operates the steadicam before the pairs figure skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Jordan Cowan operates the steadicam before the pairs figure skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Jordan Cowan operates the steadicam before the pairs figure skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)