Former Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax fatally shot his wife, Cerina Fairfax, before taking his own life at their home in Annandale, Virginia, according to authorities.
Police say the couple’s teenage children were inside the house when the violence unfolded shortly after midnight on Thursday. Their son called 911, initially believing his mother had been stabbed. Responding officers instead discovered evidence of a shooting, including shell casings near Cerina Fairfax’s body in the basement. Justin Fairfax was later found upstairs in a bedroom with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said the sequence of events appeared to happen quickly, with no extended confrontation. “I think it all kind of happened at once,” he noted. “There wasn’t a pause … it all happened pretty spontaneously.”
Earlier this year, Fairfax had accused his wife of assault, but police later determined no such incident occurred based on home surveillance footage. Officials described the case as a domestic dispute linked to a complicated breakup, and believe the incident stemmed from ongoing tensions tied to the couple’s separation and pending divorce. Although still living under the same roof, they had been staying in separate bedrooms. Cerina Fairfax had filed for divorce months earlier, and Justin Fairfax had recently received court documents related to the case. Authorities suggested that development may have escalated the situation. “That may have been a spark,” Davis said, adding that detectives are continuing to examine what led to the violence.
The deaths mark a stunning fall for a once-prominent political figure. Fairfax, who served as Virginia’s lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022 under Ralph Northam, had previously been viewed as an emerging force in state politics. His trajectory shifted dramatically in 2019 when two women publicly accused him of sexual assault stemming from separate incidents years earlier. One allegation dated back to their time as students at Duke University, while another involved an encounter during the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Fairfax denied both claims, maintaining the encounters were consensual and resisting calls to resign.
Authorities emphasized the emotional toll on the couple’s children, who are now receiving support services. The police chief described the situation as deeply distressing for both the family and the broader community. “It’s very sad for this community,” Police Chief Davis said. “A lot of people who know the Fairfax family, everybody’s shocked. We’re shocked.”
Editorial credit: DCStockPhotography / Shutterstock.com