
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 30, 1994                   TAG: 9412300141
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

VETERAN, 44, KILLS HIMSELF AT VA HOSPITAL

A Vietnam veteran drove into the Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center parking lot Thursday and shot himself to death.

Steven Kegley, 44, was discovered shortly after 4 p.m. by a hospital worker, according to Salem Police.

Dr. John Presley, medical center director, said Kegley drove his white station wagon to a spot far from the main buildings and shot himself with a sawed-off shotgun.

Presley said Kegley was treated for depression in 1990. Kegley came back in October of this year for treatment of a sore throat, but had not returned since then.

Presley said he had no idea why Kegley would want to commit suicide at the VA, but added that the depression many people experience during the holiday season may have been too much for the former patient.

``We begin to think of lost loved ones, or measure life and our successes. ... Some people forget to look for the positive things in this holiday,'' Presley said.

by CNB