Elkhorn shooting: Thomas Routt waives preliminary hearing
ELKHORN, Wis. - The Elkhorn man accused of shooting and killing a couple inside a sports bar was back before a judge on Tuesday, Feb. 20. The court appearance lasted about seven minutes.
Routt, in shackles, sat just feet away from the family of the victims, Emerson and Gina Weingart, for Tuesday's preliminary hearing. The judge asked Routt a series of yes and no questions. Ultimately, Routt opted to waive his right to the hearing. It would have been when the prosecutor was to show probable cause for the five charges against Routt.
Routt, 57, is charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide; attempted first-degree intentional homicide; armed robbery; and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He admitted to being the gunman who robbed Sports Page Barr in Elkhorn on Feb. 1. Prosecutors say he admitted to killing a bartender and her husband in the process.
Thomas Routt
Despite this, Routt's attorney said his client maintains his innocence.
"Any statements that may or may not be attributed to my client in those have not been tested for admissibility or credibility. We don't know if he even made those statements and we certainly don't know how they were obtained," said Russell Jones, criminal defense attorney.
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Routt remains jailed in Walworth County on $2 million cash bond. He's due back in court on March 8 for his arraignment.
Case details
According to a criminal complaint, Elkhorn police were dispatched to Sports Page Barr around 12:15 a.m. on Feb. 1 for a report of shots being fired. When a police sergeant arrived on the scene, he spotted the bodies of two victims, later identified as 33-year-old Emerson Weingart and 37-year-old Gina Weingart.
Friends and family previously told FOX6 News the two were recently married. A friend said Gina was a bartender at Sports Page Barr, and Emerson was there to keep her company when the shooting happened.
Gina and Emerson Weingart (Courtesy: Leland Weingart)
The sergeant also spotted two spent shell casings and a bullet on the floor, per the complaint. The cash register behind the bar had the drawer open, and the cash tray was empty.
A detective spoke with a third victim who was in the bar at the time of the shooting. The complaint states she said there was also a man in the bar who appeared ot be in his 50s or 50s. That man was using a video gaming machine at the bar and, at some point, stood up from the gaming machine, pointed a gun and fired shots inside the bar.
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The complaint indicates Walworth County sheriff's deputies conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Routt in the town of LaFayette around 3:20 a.m. on Feb. 4. The defendant was found to be in possession of contraband, the complaint said, and he was taken to the Walworth County Jail.
On Feb. 6, the complaint states Routt "requested to speak with someone regarding the homicides in Elkhorn." When Routt spoke to a detective, prosecutors said he admitted to being the man with the gun at Sports Page Barr. Routt also said he did all of this "more than likely for the money," according to the complaint. A bartender "told (Routt) to 'put it away or she'd call the cops,'" he said per the complaint.
Shooting at Sports Page Barr in Elkhorn
Routt then said the bartender "slapped the gun and it went off," the complaint states. Routt said he then shot the man who was sitting at the bar. Routt said "he took $120-$140 from the open cash register" before shooting the man again. The defendant then "admitted to following the fleeing female (third victim) out the back door and firing two of three shots at her," according to the complaint.
Prosecutors said Routt told investigators he went home after the shooting and tried to get rid of the gun and ammunition at a gas station the next morning. A search at the gas station turned up a handgun and ammunition, which were found in bags in the gas station's dumpster.