Wisconsin cops arrest ‘person of interest’ in bar shooting deaths of newlywed couple

Police investigating the murder of a “beautiful and kind-hearted” newlywed couple shot dead at a Wisconsin bar have taken a “person of interest” into custody after a lead emerged over the weekend.

Gina and Emerson Weingart were shot early Thursday morning at the Sports Page Barr, in downtown Elkhorn in the southern part of the state.

Gina, 37, worked as a bartender at the sports bar two nights a week and Emerson, 33, regularly kept her company late at night by sitting at the bar while she worked.

“Officials have focused their efforts on an investigative lead that developed over the weekend and has identified a person of interest,” Elkhorn police said in a statement Monday evening.

“The individual has been taken into custody on an unrelated matter while officials continue their investigation.”

Gina (right), 37, worked as a bartender at the sports bar and Emerson (left), 33, often kept her company late at night by sitting at the bar while she worked

City of Elkhorn police said they received a 911 call for “shots fired” in Sports Page Barr (pictured) around 12:11 a.m., but the couple had died from their injuries

The couple grew up in Wisconsin and married in June 2023, just months before the tragedy. Police have yet to confirm whether they believe the couple were targeted or if it was a random attack.

City of Elkhorn police said they received a 911 call for “shots fired” around 12:11 a.m., but the couple had died from their injuries when police arrived.

Emerson’s father, Jeff Weingart, said police can “better find” the suspect, and described hearing that his son had died in such a gruesome manner as “heartbreaking.”

‘We asked all kinds of questions. I asked if they had a suspect, but they wouldn’t say. I asked if they had an eyewitness, but they wouldn’t say.

“Someone saw them,” he said WISN. ‘Someone saw them. I don’t care, you can’t pull off something like that. I can’t believe it was just her and him in the bar.

“So someone saw them, and someone had to give a description of them, and someone had to see the car as it drove away, and they better find it.”

The distraught father added that Emerson called him minutes before he died at 12:09 p.m.

“There was no one there when I answered, I was sleeping,” he told WISN. ‘And he called. He probably didn’t know who else to call.”

The family learned about the shooting when Emerson’s two younger brothers were alerted by friends who listened to police scanners at night.

The brothers told their parents the news on Thursday afternoon.

Police cordoned off the area as they searched for evidence, while devastated friends, relatives and locals left flowers, candles and photos of the couple nearby.

Emerson was a Christian and “avid sportsman” who “practically learned to fish as soon as he could walk,” according to the couple’s joint obituary.

He grew up in Burlington, Wisconsin, and worked at Kroger as a meat department manager at Metro Market in Mukwonago.

Emerson’s father said the family met with detectives on Friday and left the meeting feeling “very comfortable” with the police efforts.

Gina, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was “a very social person and loved people.” She also had an “amazing” singing voice and was selected for a cruise ship dance group.

“When she walked into a room at the end of the day, she knew everyone. She had a beautiful smile that would light up a room,” their obituary reads.

“Gina and Emerson started dating in 2020 and became inseparable,” the tribute adds. “(They were) two of the most beautiful, kind-hearted and cheerful couples you could ever know.”

The Weingarts (pictured together) both grew up in Wisconsin and married in June 2023, just months before the attack

Gina, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was “a very social person and loved people,” while Emerson was a Christian and “avid sportsman,” according to their joint obituary

Police have yet to confirm whether they believe the couple (pictured together in 2023) were targeted, or if it was a random attack

Barr sports page owner Jordan Barr wrote on social media: “Our bartender, Gina, and her husband, Emerson, both dear friends of ours, were taken from all of us this morning.

“The staff and patrons of Sports Page Barr have always been more than a close-knit group, a family.

“Their lives were just beginning, and I believe I speak for our entire Port Page family in saying that we are absolutely devastated by what has happened. It is a despicable act of violence that has shocked us all to our core.”

The double homicide has shocked residents of the small town of Elkhorn, where there has not been a homicide since 2015. Local business owners have said they are taking safety measures.

“It’s an uncomfortable feeling,” Aaron Gottchalk, owner of Driven Nutrition near the crime scene, told WISN. “You know, we don’t know anything right now.”