Gym Gunman, College Killers Used Same Shop

(CBS/AP)  An online weapons dealer who sold guns and accessories to those who carried out massacres at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University also sold accessories to a man who killed three women at a Pittsburgh-area health club.

Company president Eric Thompson says TGSCOM Inc. sold a Glock Magloader and a Glock Factory Magazine to George Sodini for $46 in April 2008.

It isn't clear if Sodini used the accessories during his attack on a health club Tuesday. Sodini killed himself after opening fire on an aerobics class.

TGSCOM is based in Green Bay. It also sold guns and accessories to the shooters in the two university shootings.

Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007. And Steven Kazmierczak killed five students before committing suicide at Northern Illinois University in 2008.

Meanwhile, four of the women wounded in the health club shooting remained hospitalized Friday. Three women were in fair condition, with one to be discharged later Friday, and the fourth was in serious condition.

The aerobics instructor, 26-year-old Mary Primis of Moon Township, has been moved out of intensive care.

Two other women are being treated at UPMC Mercy Hospital. One remained in serious condition Friday, while the other is listed as fair.

CBS station KDKA reports that another community vigil has been planned for this evening while visitation for two of the victims is set to also start today.

On Thursday night, mourners gathered at the City-County Building downtown for a candlelight vigil to remember the victims.

Meanwhile, an expert said Sodini shares a chilling trait with other mass killers: the desire to make their woes understood through multiple deaths.

No indication has surfaced that George Sodini had documented mental problems, but his massacre shares threads with others analyzed by psychiatrists and legal experts, who say the line between lonely and homicidal remains hard to place.

"They're thinking, 'I want everyone to understand and appreciate why I'm doing this,' and the way to do that, in their mind, is to kill other people and not just themselves," New York attorney Carolyn Wolf, whose firm specializes in mental health issues, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. "In their mind it sends a broader message."

Sodini kept an online journal in which he detailed planning the attack and posted videos on YouTube discussing his need to work on his emotions in order to attract women.

But what do these Internet remnants of the killer say about his mind?

Top forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Welner appeared on "The Early Show" Thursday to discuss what the online entries and videos say about 48-year-old George Sodini's mental condition.

Welner, who's credited with developing "The Depravity Scale," a tool that helps judges and jurors distinguish violent crimes from those motivated by pure evil, has consulted on some of the most notorious crimes in recent history, including the Virginia Tech massacre, the murder of Jon-Benet Ramsey, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Welner told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez many people he encounters in forensic psychiatry look average or normal.

"They look exactly like you," he said. "You expect (shooters) to be monsters because they're built up, and actually, they're quite ordinary."

As for Sodini, Welner said, it was his ordinariness that was at the heart of his attention-seeking crime.

"Crime doesn't pay ... unless you're a mass shooter, because all of that is getting notoriety."

[johnhouse]

The Second Amendment has become a sacred cow. At the time of the American Revolution, a government could save substantial money by conscripting armed citizens. Don't believe it? Read Jefferson and Madison. Today, more of us can be expected to be harmed by an armed citizen than protected, and military training and weapons are too specialized.

Today there is a place for sports weapons and hunting. Fifty years from now? Who could guess?

The biggest component of national defense today is a well-ordered, well-educated and tolerant society.

[Lawyers-Guns-n-Money]

by globalcoolin August 7, 2009 11:05 PM EDT
Automatic firearms (semi-autos on Clintons ban list)) kill far fewer Americans than the human fist...
SO...WHAT DO YOU NEED YOUR HAND FOR?
=============================

Apparently, you've never spent an inordinate amount of time away from your significant other.

It ain't gonna shuck itself.

[bantamei]

Unlike conservatives, liberals have respect for the constitution, including the 2nd amendment. I would just like for one of you gun nuts to explain why you need an automatic weapon. I also wish you gunners would support the other 9 amendements in the bill of rights as fervently as you support the 2nd amendemnt. I don't hear any of you complaining about the watering down of the 4th amendment, caused mainly by conservatives. And for a conservative to suggest that liberals want to take away our rights is ludicrous at best. Where were you the last 8 years when the neocons were dragging the constitution through the mud.

[badone1976]

I aree it is wrong, no one should murder anyone, you should exhaust all means before doing so, locking yourself in a room or hiding while someone breaks in your home, call the police. there comes a time when you have to do the unthinkable, but you can not punish avid hunters, gun collectors for the few who do committe crimes.

No matter how hard you push the issue some hustler on the street will sale you a gun, its never going to end, there are billions of guns on the street belonging to people who dont need them, people who get busted doing crimes and that takes the unwanted guns off the street.

We have defended our country and brothers and sisters and fathers, grandfathers ect...have fallen for our freedom and we as americans will keep the rights we have earned to bare arms, The American people will stand up and say enough if we are pushed enough to start loosing the only things that keep us sane in this world, hunting, fishing, sport shooting, gun collecting.

I am not saying killing is right, and yes a knife would have allowed others to escape. but if he didnt have a gun, and decieded to get on the internet and build a pipe bomb or some sort of explosive , then he would have gotten them all. All im saying take all guns away and they will still find away to do it. if we close all play grounds will that stop the child molesters from harming kids?

[dsnj1-2009]

Oh, I think I see your problem the_majesty.

You're confusing your right to own a weapon with the crime of murdering innocent human beings.

But please, continue to excuse these senseless crimes. When you do lose your rights you will have no one to blame but yourself.


ditto

[dsnj1-2009]

once agin, this was not someone protecting their home, as the 2nd amendment originally was intended for-this was someone (similar to VA tech and many others) who ONLY wanted to commit murder. If you back this, then apparently you are ok with murder. I do not agree with this. There is a BIG difference between protecting your home with a shotgun, and buying a semi-automatic to kill people you hate. Plain and simple.

[johnbrown8888]

Is anybody getting down on Bush and Cheney for selling our freedom and future to the corporate thieves?

If not, then don't blame someone who sold a couple of clips. This guy didn't even sell them the guns they used, just some accessories.

[brianp55]

Yeah, and toward the back of the store on the left (next to the granola bars and trail mix) , they have the black trenchcoats, tee-shirts, underwear and workout ensembles.

[dsnj1-2009]

what the F*&^%& are you talking about?

[badone1976]

Ok here is the deal, if someone wants to cause you harm or murder someone, regaurdless if they have a gun, knife, baseball bat, they are going to do it. you idiots make it sound as if we ban guns, no more murders.

IIf someone want you dead it doesnt take a gun to do it. look at how many people are stabbed to death a year, should we ban all knifes.

look at how many drunk drivers kill families a year, should we ban beer, and cars.

POINT IS AS STATED GUNS DONT KILL PEOPLE...PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE WITH WHATEVER MEANS THEY HAVE TO USE.

[dsnj1-2009]

@badone1976-You are absolutly right, BUT lets take this case as an example. One man, 30 something women. He killed several BEACAUSE he had a gun. If he had a knife, they could run, and would have more of a chance. Probably 4 would not have been killed. You make it sound like we shoudl just give up and throw our hands up. I tell you, until our wives, daughters, etc. stop being killed, you will not shut us up. Sorry-Do you balem us when our relatives are killed from guns when they could have had a chance? This was not him protecting his home, this was him out to murder as many people as possible. THEY did have a chance.

[dsnj1-2009]

No-but we should not just throw up our hands and say "its ok to kill us"-are you crazy? we will fight until the fight is fair. It is onething to protect your homes, It is another thing for a daily occurance of crazy people to show up at your work, place of exercise, churches, etc. and want to kill you. THESE are the people who need to be stopped.

[DaVicar5]

Well, I'm as big a gun nut as anybody out there, but I don't think you should be able to buy handgun accessories on line.
Then again...IF the FBI were smart, they would setup their own covert online gun store, and get an opportunity to investigate some of these nazis.