Mystery over brutal killings of newlyweds shot dead in sports bar together

06 February 2024 , 12:23

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Gina Weingart, 37, and her “inseparable” husband Emerson Weingart, 33, who tied the knot last summer, were shot on Thursday (Image: KCBD)

Police have detained a “person of interest” in connection with the tragic shooting of two newlyweds at a bar where the wife worked.

Gina Weingart, 37, and her “inseparable” husband Emerson Weingart, 33, who tied the knot last summer, were the only two people in the Wisconsin bar when they were shot on February 1.

“Officials have been focusing efforts on an investigation lead that developed over the weekend which identified a person of interest,” the department said in a statement, Elkhorn police announced Monday.

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“The person of interest has been taken into custody on an unrelated matter as officials continue their investigation.”

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No further details were released by the department, “in order to protect the integrity of this ongoing investigation,” including the nature of the “unrelated matter”.

However it is not uncommon for police forces to hold suspects and persons of interest on unrelated warrants while they build a more serious case against them.

Mystery over brutal killings of newlyweds shot dead in sports bar together

The couple began dating in 2020 and soon “became inseparable,” according to their loved ones (KCBD)

The Weingarts were gunned down shortly after midnight last Thursday in the Sports Page Barr. Reports of shots fired brought multiple agencies rushing to the scene where the couple were discovered with fatal gunshot wounds but no trace of the killer.

No motive or description of a suspect has been released by the authorities, however Emerson’s father Jeff Weingart says he believes someone must have witnessed something. Police have not said whether the couple was targeted specifically by their killer or if it was a random attack.

“It’s gut-wrenching,” he told WIS over the weekend. “Somebody saw them. Somebody saw them. I don’t care, you don’t pull something like that off.

“I can’t believe that it was just her and him in the bar. So somebody saw them, and somebody had to give a description of them, and somebody had to see the car when he drove away, and they better find him.”

Communitiy members leave tributes at a makeshift shrine to the tragic couple (KCBD)

The couple began dating in 2020 and soon “became inseparable,” according to their obituaries. “Gina and Emerson Weingart were recently married in June 2023. Two of the most beautiful, kindhearted and fun-loving couple you could ever know,” their loved ones wrote.

The online tribute described how they had both grown up in Wisconsin. Emerson was a keen fisherman and big Green Bay Packers fan, while Gina loved to sing and dance.

According the owner of the bar where the couple was killed, they were regulars who became friendly with staff and he eventually offered Gina a part time job at the bar, where Emerson would often hand out to keep her company while she worked late shifts.

“Their lives were just beginning, and I believe I speak for our entire Sports Page family by saying we are absolutely devastated by what happened,” Jordan Barr wrote on Facebook. “It is a despicable act of violence that has shaken all of us to our core.”