After multiple complaints, including some from northwest Missouri, an online weapons dealer who supplied three mass killers has quietly closed-up shop.
The Green Bay Wisconsin company TGSCOM Inc. closed it’s doors at the end of May after hundreds of complaints to the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau since January.
As of June first, the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau received 2,258 inquiries on TGSCOM in the last year and continues to receive hundreds of calls per week from consumers throughout the U.S.
“TGSCOM has sold a large amount of product via Internet sales,” said Randall Hoth, Wisconsin Better Business Bureau president/CEO. “Our concern now is for customers who have paid for merchandise they have not received. Consumers are urged to contact their credit card companies and put the amount paid to TGSCOM in dispute immediately.”
The company was known for selling firearms and outdoor accessories across the nation on multiple websites. TGSCOM was started by Eric Thompson in 1999 in Arizona and was later moved to Green Bay Wisconsin.
Customers from 44 states had complained they never received online orders from the company which also sold weapons or accessories to three difference killers, including Seung-Hue Cho. Cho used a handgun purchased from the company during his attack on Virginia Tech students in 2007.
The company also sold accessories to George Sodini, who shot up a Pennsylvania health club in 2009, and to Stephen Kazmierczak, who opened fire at Northern Illinois University in 2008.
Wisconsin law enforcement note that Owner Eric Thompson closed the business recently and detectives have opened an investigation.
Since early May, a phone line to the business was virtually unreachable with a recording stating to customers the company was experiencing technical difficulties. The company has operated an estimated more than 100 websites.
By early May, all items were listed as out-of-stock on the website’s yet the ordering system was still accepting payments.
A northwest Missouri customer had that exact scenario happen in early May. The customers credit card company agreed to refund the money and open an investigation into the company.
As of early June, several of the company’s websites, include the flagship address of TGSCOM.com, were no longer active online.