Police search for gun owned by doctor

State police are searching for a .22-caliber handgun in the investigation of the shooting death of a doctor serving a residency at Latrobe Area Hospital whose body was found in Keystone State Park in Derry Township.

According to a search warrant filed Thursday, troopers wanted permission to search Dr. Andrew D. Bagby's West Second Avenue apartment for a Phoenix Arms handgun that was given to him by a friend.

The friend, identified in an affidavit as Shirley J. Turner, told troopers she had given the gun to Bagby. Turner is a family physician in Sac City, Iowa, according to the American Medical Association.

Turner and Bagby attended Memorial University of Newfoundland's medical school, AMA records show. She graduated from medical school in 1998. Bagby graduated last year.

They both were enrolled in a surgical residency program in Syracuse before Bagby dropped out to pursue a career in family medicine at Latrobe.

Bagby was shot five times and suffered a blow to the head sometime Monday evening, police said. His body, still wearing hospital scrubs and a name tag, was found near his car in the parking lot of the boat launch area near Keystone Lake.

State police Sgt. William Krulac yesterday said police are "still seeking leads in the case." He wouldn't comment on the items police recovered from Bagby's car and home on West Second Avenue, citing the ongoing investigation.

But in an inventory accompanying the warrant, troopers said they found several potential pieces of evidence during a search of Bagby's hospital-owned home and his black Toyota Corolla sedan.

Troopers recovered several hairs and fibers from various locations inside the car, the inventory indicated. They also found a blue hair tie containing a hair in the front passenger door compartment, and a tissue with gum inside it in the front passenger door handle. A brown wig was recovered from the driver's side rear seat.

Police also found Bagby's white lab coat with a pager and an electronic organizer in the pockets. A cellular telephone was recovered from the front passenger seat, and two six-packs of bottled beer were found on the passenger side floor.

Police also discovered note paper with "University Hospital" letterhead with notes addressed to Bagby.

In Bagby's home, police recovered a travel expense report, telephone lists, his November work schedule, a notebook computer, checkbook, bank statements, an income tax return, telephone bills and a telephone.

Bagby had been scheduled to meet Dr. Clark Simpson, the chief resident at Latrobe Area Hospital, for a drink at Simpson's home Monday night. Simpson told state police Bagby never arrived at his house.

Meanwhile, Bagby's friends are reeling from the news of his death.

Kurt Kuenne of Burbank, Calif., said he and Bagby attended school together from first grade through high school. He said Bagby always wanted to become a doctor and wouldn't let anything deter him from achieving his goal.

"He said he would do it and he did it," said Kuenne, a filmmaker.

Kuenne went on to film school at the University of Southern California while Bagby went to the University of California at Riverside. The two friends got together in April when both were visiting their families in Sunnyvale.

"He was my oldest friend in the world," Kuenne added. "I've known him since the first grade.

"I heard the news (Wednesday), and today is the worst day of my life. He was my best friend, and I loved him more than anything," he said yesterday.

Eric Heckman, a financial analyst in San Jose, Calif., knew Bagby since 1977 when their families moved to the same Sunnyvale neighborhood because their fathers were working in the fledgling high-tech industry in Silicon Valley.

He also remembers Bagby's determination to become a physician.

After graduating from college and applying unsuccessfully to several medical schools, Bagby spent a year working in a county hospital, Heckman said. Then he was accepted to a medical school in St. Louis, Mo., where his father was from, and Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Heckman said 60 people, including Heckman's parents, family members and friends, flew to Newfoundland to attend Bagby's graduation and celebrate afterward. He added that Bagby was an only child, and his parents planned to retire and move to wherever he established a medical practice

"He was their life, basically," Heckman said.

Sunnyvale, Heckman said, is a small, quiet town in the heart of the Silicon Valley, about a 15-minute drive from San Jose. When Silicon Valley began to earn its reputation as a high-tech proving ground, housing developments began to spring up in the fertile farmland.

Friends said Bagby's father was an engineer for a technology firm. His mother, Kate, a native of England, worked as a nurse practitioner. The family frequently traveled to England to visit relatives.

Heckman remembered that Bagby was such a Star Wars fan that he named his big, black pet cat Darth Vader, after the Star Wars villain.

"Andrew was the only person I knew who was always nice. He would never say a mean word to anybody. He would never be malicious. Maybe it was having an English mother and learning proper manners," he said.

Heather Arnold, a third-year medical student at Memorial University of Newfoundland, was a former girlfriend of Bagby's.

"He was a very good person. He was very incredibly likable and had a lot of friends and meant the world to his family," Arnold said.

She said she met him through mutual friends when they were both in high school in California, but she declined to talk about their relationship or the last time they saw each other.

Arnold decided to apply to Newfoundland on Bagby's recommendation. While they were no longer dating, she considered him "a good family friend, and that's where we had left it."

Heckman said Bagby's parents arrived Wednesday in Latrobe to make funeral arrangements. The Bacha Funeral Home in Greensburg declined to reveal what those arrangements were, saying only they were handled privately.

Meanwhile, Bagby's parents were staying in hospital-owned apartments while residents from the hospital took turns staying with them and fixing meals, friends said.

Reporter Dwayne Pickels contributed to this report.