The convicted felon who was detained in connection to the shooting deaths of Wisconsin newlyweds inside a sports bar has admitted to killing them to rob them of a paltry sum — taking off with less than $150 from the cash drawer, police said.
Thomas Routt Jr., 57, was charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the Feb. 1 shooting deaths of Gina Weingart, 37, and her husband, Emerson Weingart, 33, Elkhorn police said Friday.
The parolee with a long rap sheet told investigators that he opened fire at the Sports Page Bar, where Gina worked, intending to rob the establishment — and that he swiped between $120 and $140 from a cash drawer before fleeing in his vehicle to his home, police said.
5 Gina and Emerson Weingart were allegedly gunned down by convicted felon Thomas Routt Jr. KCBD
A witness reported that Routt was inside the bar for about 30 minutes playing a video game machine before pulling out a gun and ordering the couple and a third person not to move, police said.
“The eyewitness said Routt brandished a handgun and pointed it at Gina, the bartender, and ordered them not to move,” police said. “The eyewitness said they instinctively got up off their barstool and Routt pointed the gun at the eyewitness and ordered the eyewitness not to move.”
Routt then allegedly opened fire and the eyewitness ran out of the bar and called 911, police said.
He was arrested by the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office at 3:40 a.m. Feb. 4 on a Department of Corrections hold while he was on parole for arson.
“Routt subsequently admitted to shooting both Emerson and Gina Weingart and following the eyewitness out the back door and shooting at the eyewitness as they fled,” police said.
Rout also faces one count of attempted first-degree intentional, armed robbery and felon in possession of a firearm.
5 Emerson and Gina Weingart in an undated photo. KCBD
5 Convicted felon Thomas Routt Jr., 57, has been charged in the shooting deaths of Wisconsin newlyweds Gina Weingart, 37, and Emerson Weingart, 33. WDJT-TV
“Routt said the next morning he discarded the weapon and ammunition in a trash receptacle at the Handi-Mart in Lake Como,” police said, adding that they later retrieved a 9mm handgun and ammo from the garbage.
On Friday, Routt appeared in court, where Emerson’s father, Jeff Weingart, addressed the judge and called the suspect a monster, CBS 58 reported.
“Our families have been devastated by this senseless act of violence,” he said, according to the outlet.
Walworth County District Attorney Zeke Wiedenfeld said: “The defendant killed two people and attempted to kill a third.”
5 Emerson Weingart’s father, Jeff, said the “families have been devastated by this senseless act of violence.” WDJT-TV
Routt’s next court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday.
“We will be pleading not guilty,” his attorney, Russell Jones, told CBS 58. “It wouldn’t surprise me if there were surveillance cameras, but at this point we have not been provided any video footage of anything.”
Routt, a convicted felon with a criminal history dating back to 1995 for burglary and arson, is barred from possessing firearms.
He was paroled by Gov. Tony Evers in 2020 and was on community supervision at the time of the shooting.
5 Gina Weingart and Emerson Weingart on their wedding day. Gina Lynn Weingart / Facebook
“Please recall that the system that convicted and incarcerated him failed,” Jeff Weingart said in court, according to the outlet.
“Find out why Tony Evers’ administration paroled this monster who committed this brazen act that took the lives of two very special, beautiful, and loving people in Gina and Emerson,” the grieving dad added.
His son and daughter-in-law, who grew up in Wisconsin, began dating in 2020 and soon “became inseparable,” according to their obituaries.
Convicted felon who shot dead newlyweds in bar admits he killed them for less than $150: cops
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