Wife of wounded CA customs agent linked to suspect

February 9, 2012 at 2:06p.m.

NEWARK, Calif. (AP) — A suspect in the shooting of a customs agent taught at the same school for aspiring opticians that the victim’s wife graduated from less than a year ago, according to the school’s owner.

The wife of victim Robert Suplik met suspect Dennis Bagwell while she was completing a four-month program, Daniel Ross, the owner of Bay Area Optical Schools in Union City, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Ross, however, said he had no reason to believe the three were involved in a love triangle and had no idea what led to the shooting.

Police haven’t established a motive for the attack.

“I have an idea and we have theories, but we don’t know why it occurred,” Newark police Sgt. Mike Carroll told the newspaper.

Bagwell, 61, is due to make his first court appearance Thursday, two days after authorities say he shot and wounded the agent outside Suplik’s home in Newark.

Suplik, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent assigned to San Francisco International Airport, was taken to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley after the shooting. His condition has not been released at the request of his family.

Bagwell was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder during a traffic stop hours later.