'Person Of Interest' For Fatal Bar Shooting Of Newlyweds In Custody

A "person of interest" was taken into custody in relation to the shooting deaths of a Wisconsin newlywed couple that took place at the sports bar where the wife worked as a bartender.

The City of Elkhorn Police Department gave an update on the case centered around the February 1 deaths of Gina Weingart, 37, and Emerson Weingart, 33, at Sports Page Barr in a press release shared on Facebook Monday (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. “The person of interest has been taken into custody on an unrelated matter as officials continue their investigation.”

The department refrained from releasing any additional information, including details on what was described as an "unrelated matter," in an effort "to protect the integrity of this ongoing investigation."

Gina and Emerson Weingart were identified as the victims fatally wounded in the Sports Page Barr shooting by Jordan Barr, the owner of the sports bar, who described the shooter as a "coward."

"Our bartender, Gina, and her husband Emerson, both dear friends of ours, were taken from all of us this morning," Barr wrote on the business' Facebook account. "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.

"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."

Emerson's father, Jeff Weingart, told WIS that his son would sit at the bar while Gina worked her part-time shift.

“It’s gut-wrenching,” Jeff said. “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.”

Elhorn is located about 40 miles from Milwaukee and has an estimated population of 10,000.