Justin Fairfax, a former lieutenant governor of Virginia, fatally shot his wife Cerina before turning the gun on himself, police have said. The couple's teenage children made an emergency call from their home in Annandale, Virginia, shortly after midnight.
Kevin Davis, chief of Fairfax county police, described the incident as stemming from an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what he called a "complicated or messy divorce". The couple were living together while separating, and Fairfax had recently been served paperwork related to an upcoming court hearing.
Fairfax, 47, served as Virginia's lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022 under Governor Ralph Northam, becoming the second African American to hold statewide office in the state since Reconstruction. His political career was derailed in 2019 when two women accused him of sexual assault, allegations he denied. He later ran for governor but finished fourth in the Democratic primary.
Court documents revealed a troubled period after he left office, including heavy drinking and isolation. In 2022, he bought a gun and once left home with it and a packed suitcase, later found in a park. Divorce judge Timothy J McEvoy said Fairfax was a "talented man who struggles with undefined emotional and psychological issues" that were "defining him".
Weeks before the deaths, a judge had ordered Fairfax to move out by 30 April, and his wife was granted primary physical custody of their two children. Police had previously attended the house in January after Fairfax accused his wife of assault, but determined the allegation was untrue after reviewing footage.
Journalist Sophia Nelson, a friend, said she was devastated for the couple's children. "Cerina did not deserve what Justin did to her," she said. "He was depressed. He was in darkness." She said he had spoken of needing help to prove his innocence.
