Former Optical Store Owner to Appear in Court in Shooting of Federal Agent

Police have arrested a Piedmont man in connection to a Feb. 7 morning shooting in Newark that injured an off-duty federal agent, police said.

Dennis Bagwell, 61, former owner of Redwood City Optical, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, according to a press release. Police said he does not have a history of criminal activity.

Newark Detective Sgt. Mike Carroll said Bagwell is a property manager who lives on Linda Avenue in Piedmont.

Bagwell was arrested without incident during a traffic stop in Union City.

Multiple gunshots were heard on the 7700 block of Mayhews Landing Road at about 5:50 a.m. Tuesday near Bettencourt Street, said Cmdr. Bob Douglas of the Newark Police Department.

Police said when they arrived the federal agent was suffering from at least one gunshot wound and was taken to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, the closest trauma center.

The victim's family has asked that his medical condition not be made public.

The agent's identity has not been released, but Newark police confirmed that he is a 61-year-old Newark resident employed with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency with the Department of Homeland Security.

Bagwell's History With Firearms

The supervisor of an optical school instructor accused of shooting a federal agent said his employee was a "good shot" who had a lot of empathy for people.

Daniel Ross, owner of the former Redwood City Optical and now the director ofin Union City, said he has known the suspect, Dennis Bagwell of Piedmont, for seven years.

Bagwell appeared in court Friday morning for further arraignment on an attempted murder charge. He's in custody without bail.

Dressed in a red jumpsuit, the 5-foot-3 man walked into court with an apparent limp. He was immediately directed to only face Judge Dennis McLaughlin, who granted a public defender's request to delay Bagwell's plea hearing.

A woman who appeared to be the wife of the Robert Suplik, the federal agent who Bagwell is accused of shooting, sat with others in the first two rows of the courtroom, guarded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.

Bagwell's family members sat on the opposite side but declined to talk with media. The public defender who appeared in court with him also did not comment or provide her name, but McLaughin referred to her as Ms. Thomas.

Bagwell, a master level optician, was employed by Ross as a teacher at the Union City optical school. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has also owned Redwood City Optical for 28 years.

The school teaches a program that trains students to become opticians through an accelerated curriculum, which condenses a two-year program into a four-month course by having students attend 20 hours a week.

Iryna Smith, wife of shooting victim Robert Suplik, was a student at the Bay Area Optical School and graduated in the fall 2011. Ross confirmed Smith had been a student of Bagwell’s.

Ross said he had never known Bagwell to carry a gun, although he knew that Bagwell was a gun owner.

“He (Bagwell) was a good shot because he was a hunter. He used to target shoot and could group them (bullets) into a quarter,” he said. “Robert is lucky to be alive.”

Ross described Bagwell as a kind person who would help people to a fault, but he denied there was anything unusual going on between Bagwell and Smith.

“There was nothing further than student-instructor relationship,” he said. “There was no preference taking. There was no love triangle. Dennis would have told me.”

But he did acknowledge that something could have been going on with Bagwell that he wasn't aware of.

“I guess there could have been something going on inside Dennis,” Ross said. “He fell for people easily. He always had a lot of empathy for people.”

Bagwell was arrested Tuesday in Union City, hours after  that happened on the 7700 block of Mayhew Landing Road.

Officers responded to the home and found the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer suffering from at least one gunshot wound.

Police have not commented on the victim’s medical condition but did say they are “thankful that our officer is still with us.” Other media reports state that police said the victim remains in very serious condition.

Police documents show that Suplik and Bagwell had met through Suplik's wife and that when an officer asked Suplik if he knew who shot him, he said "Dennis" several times and mentioned Bay Area Optical School.

Police also said that after an officer informed Suplik's wife that her husband mentioned "Dennis" after the shooting she told investigators the two had an uneasy relationship.

Suplik's wife said Bagwell had tried to pursue an intimate relationship with her, but she turned him down. She maintained a casual relationship in which she spoke with him and texted him occasionally.

Bagwell, she said, did behave erratically sometimes and recently showed up at the Suplik's one-story home, hiding behind the bushes.

Suplik confronted Bagwell about the behavior and asked Bagwell to leave his wife alone, according to police. Police said Bagwell last talked with the family on Friday.

Bagwell's next court appearance is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Feb. 29 at the Fremont Hall of Justice.