In brief: Defense rests in Sandusky trial

Bellefonte, Pa. – The defense in Jerry Sandusky’s child sex abuse trial rested on its third day Wednesday without calling the former Penn State assistant coach to refute charges that he molested boys at his home and on campus over more than a decade.

Closing arguments were set for today in the case that led to the dismissal of Hall of Fame football coach Joe Paterno and the university president.

The defense called only four new witnesses Wednesday, including a physician who tried to poke holes in the story of a former Penn State coach who testified that he saw Sandusky sexually assault a boy in the campus showers more than a decade ago.

Sandusky is charged with 51 criminal counts for the alleged abuse of 10 boys over 15 years.

Virginia Tech gun seller closes shop

Madison, Wis. – An online weapons dealer who sold the handgun used in the Virginia Tech massacre and provided equipment in two other mass shootings has quietly closed up shop amid a flurry of complaints from customers who allege he failed to deliver orders after billing them.

Police say Eric Thompson last month abruptly closed his Green Bay, Wis.-based business, TGSCOM Inc., as they probed scores of complaints from customers in nearly every state.

TGSCOM’s connections to three mass shootings have drawn national attention in recent years.

Seung-Hui Cho used a .22-caliber handgun purchased through TGSCOM when he killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in April 2007. Steven Kazmierczak, who killed five people in a Northern Illinois University classroom in 2008, bought two empty magazines and a holster through a company site. George Sodini, who killed three women when he opened fire at a Pittsburgh-area health club in 2009, bought an empty magazine and a magazine loading apparatus from the company.