Former Democratic Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife before taking his own life in an apparent murder-suicide at their home in Fairfax County, authorities have said.
Fairfax County police confirmed that officers were called to the couple’s residence in Annandale shortly after midnight on Thursday, after a 911 call believed to have been placed by one of the couple’s teenage children. When officers arrived, they found 47-year-old Fairfax’s wife, identified as Cerina Fairfax, dead from multiple gunshot wounds in the basement, and the former lieutenant governor dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an upstairs bedroom.
Police Chief Kevin Davis told reporters that preliminary findings indicate Fairfax shot his wife several times before going upstairs and turning the gun on himself, adding that there was no indication of a prolonged confrontation and that “it all happened pretty spontaneously.” The couple’s two teenage children were inside the home at the time of the shootings, and authorities described the incident as “traumatic” as victim services teams moved in to support the family.
Investigators said the couple were in the midst of divorce proceedings and that Fairfax had recently been served with court documents related to the case, a development Davis suggested may have been a catalyst for the tragedy. Police also revealed that officers had previously responded to the home in connection with a domestic dispute during the divorce process, but no arrest was made after video from cameras inside the house did not support an allegation Fairfax had made against his wife.
Justin Fairfax, a former federal prosecutor and rising star in the Democratic Party before his career was derailed by sexual assault allegations in 2019, served as Virginia’s lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022 and later ran unsuccessfully for governor in the 2021 Democratic primary.
