The couple was gunned down on February 1.
A 57-year-old man who was detained after allegedly fatally shooting a couple inside a US bar has admitted that he killed them to rob them of less than $150 from the cash drawer. According to the New York Post, police said the convicted felon Thomas Routt Jr was charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of newlyweds Gina Weingart, 37, and her husband, Emerson Weingart, 33. The couple was gunned down a little after midnight on February 1 at the Sports Page Bar, where Ms Gina worked. The police said that the 57-year-old swiped between $120 and $140 from a cash drawer before fleeing in his vehicle to his home.
Citing an eyewitness, the Post reported that Routt was inside the bar for about 30 minutes playing a video game machine before pulling out a gun and ordering the couple and a third person not to move. “The eyewitness said Routt brandished a handgun and pointed it at Gina, the bartender, and ordered them not to move,” police said. “The eyewitness said they instinctively got up off their barstool and Routt pointed the gun at the eyewitness and ordered the eyewitness not to move.” The 57-year-old then opened fire and the eyewitness ran out of the bar and called the cops.
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The Walworth County Sheriff’s Office arrested Routt on February 4 on a Department of Corrections hold while he was on parole for arson. “Routt subsequently admitted to shooting both Emerson and Gina Weingart and following the eyewitness out the back door and shooting at the eyewitness as they fled,” police said, as per the Post. He also faces one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, armed robbery and felon in possession of a firearm.
“Routt said the next morning he discarded the weapon and ammunition in a trash receptacle at the Handi-Mart in Lake Como,” cops said, adding that they later retrieved a 9mm handgun and ammo from the garbage.
Routt will now appear in court again on Wednesday. “We will be pleading not guilty,” his attorney, Russell Jones, said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if there were surveillance cameras, but at this point, we have not been provided any video footage of anything,” the attorney added.