Convicted Felon Admits to Killing Newlywed Couple for Less than $150

Thomas Routt Jr. told prosecutors he opened fire in Elkhorn, Wisconsin’s Sports Page Bar on February 1, 2024, killing newlyweds Gina and Emerson Weingart before fleeing the scene after snatching less than $150 from the cash register.

The New York Post reported an eyewitness testified that Routt played a a video game in the bar for about 30 minutes, then pulled out a handgun and ordered Gina, a bartender at the establishment, not to move. The eyewitness said Routt ordered Gina’s husband not to move also.

Police indicated “the eyewitness…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 fled, making it out of the building to call 911.

The Elkhorn Police department noted, “Routt was taken into custody without incident by the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday, February 4, 2024, at 3:40 AM on a Department of Corrections hold as Routt was on parole for arson.” He admitted to shooting Gina and her husband and “said the next morning he discarded the weapon and ammunition in a trash receptacle at the Handi-Mart in Lake Como.” Police went to the Handi-Mart and found a 9mm pistol in the trash can.

The Post observed that Routt is a convicted felon with a criminal history going all the way back to 1995.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a pro-staffer for Pulsar Night Vision. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.