Gina and Emerson Weingart and the scene outside of the Sports Page Barr after they were gunned down inside (WISN screenshots)
Law enforcement authorities in Wisconsin are searching for the person or persons responsible for killing a newlywed couple who were gunned down inside a bar where the wife worked as a bartender. Gina Weingart, 37, and Emerson Weingart, 33, were both shot and killed on Thursday, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Elkhorn Police Department, deputies with the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office at about 12:11 a.m. on Feb. 1 responded to a 911 call reporting “shots fired and a person down” inside of the Sports Page Barr located at 29 1/2 S Wisconsin Street.
Upon arriving at the scene, deputies and officers from the Elkhorn Police Department said they discovered the bodies of a male and a female — later identified as Gina and Emerson Weingart — inside the bar suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. They were both pronounced dead at the scene.
The agencies are being assisted in the ongoing investigation by the Walworth County Medical Examiner’s Office, the Wisconsin State Crime Lab, and the Wisconsin State Patrol.
No arrests had been made as of Monday morning and authorities have not speculated about a possible motive.
Emerson Weingart’s father, Jeff Weingart, told Milwaukee ABC affiliate WISN that he was devastated by the news and wanted the person responsible to be found.
“It’s gut-wrenching, Somebody saw them. Somebody saw them. Somebody saw them,” he told the station, referring to whoever pulled the trigger. “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 in.”
He added that authorities “had better find him.”
Family members told WISN that Emerson Weingart would often go to the Sports Page Barr and hang out while his wife worked late-night shifts.
According to a shared obituary, the couple had been married less than a year after tying the knot in June 2023.
“Gina and Emerson starting dating in 2020 and became inseparable. Gina and Emerson Weingart were recently married in June 2023,” the obituary said. “Two of the most beautiful, kindhearted and fun-loving couple you could ever know.”
The owner of the bar, Jordan Barr, posted a tribute to the couple on the establishment’s Facebook page, referring to the perpetrator as, “some coward” who “came into the bar and opened fire.”
“Our bartender, Gina, and her husband Emerson, both dear friends of ours, were taken from all of us this morning. The Sports Page Barr staff and regulars have always been more than a tight knit group, a family. Before Gina joined our staff, her and Emerson started coming in and very quickly became close with all of us, staff and patrons alike,” he wrote. “When I eventually offered Gina a part time job, they were already a part of the family. 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. It is a despicable act of violence that has shaken all of us to our core.”
Authorities are urging anyone with any information to contact the Elkhorn Police Department at 262-723-2210.
