ANNANDALE, Va. — Justin Fairfax, a former lieutenant governor of Virginia, fatally shot his wife before killing himself in their home overnight, according to local police.
Justin and Cerina Fairfax’s teenage children were at the house at the time of the shootings, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis told reporters at a news conference Thursday morning.
“Former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife inside of their home and then shot and killed himself,” Davis said, adding that their older son called 911 just after midnight.
The former lieutenant governor, once considered a political up-and-comer, killed his wife in the basement of the home, and then went upstairs to the primary bedroom and shot and killed himself, the police chief said.
Davis described the shootings as apparently part of a “domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce.” The couple was still living together but sleeping in separate bedrooms, he said.
Police are in the preliminary stage of the investigation, but Davis said Fairfax was recently served paperwork indicating when he was scheduled to next appear in court for the divorce proceedings.
“That may have been a spark,” Davis said, adding that “detectives will figure that out” as they investigate what “led to this tragedy here.”
Police have a search warrant to recover evidence, including the firearm that Fairfax used.
In emergency response audio, a dispatcher can be heard describing the scene. “I think this is going to be our subject,” the person says, according to recordings of scanner traffic provided by Broadcastify. “He has got a firearm with him, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.”
Police tape surrounded the Fairfax home Thursday morning. Just before 10 a.m., two gurneys were rolled out of the home, loaded into the back of a white van and driven away.
“I am deeply saddened by the tragedy that occurred last night. I am praying for the Fairfax children, and I ask my fellow Virginians to hold them in their hearts and prayers,” Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said in a statement.
“The murder of Dr. Cerina Fairfax in an apparent murder-suicide is a horrific tragedy. Dr. Fairfax was a devoted mother, beloved dentist in the Fairfax County community, and engaged supporter of her alma mater, Virginia Commonwealth University,” Spanberger added.
The former lieutenant governor, who was 47, served in the role from 2018 to 2022 under then-Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam. He had previously spoken out against the growing scourge of gun violence.
“Pam and I are devastated by this heartbreaking news,” Northam said in a statement, referring to his wife. “I had the privilege of getting to know the Fairfaxes while our families served together.”
In 2019, two women accused Fairfax of sexual assault years earlier, spurring Virginia Democrats to call for his resignation. Meredith Watson claimed Fairfax raped her in 2000 while they were students at Duke University. Vanessa Tyson accused Fairfax of forcing her to perform oral sex in 2004 when they attended the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Fairfax denied the accusations, saying the encounters with the women were consensual. He said he would remain in office and called for an FBI investigation into the claims.
When the assault allegations became public, according to court documents, a family member found Fairfax “clutching a pillow and a blanket in a closet” in his home office. Fairfax said “words to the effect that everyone was out to get him.”
In January, Fairfax called police and alleged his wife had assaulted him. Davis said that officers who responded to the scene corroborated “that the alleged assault never occurred” based on footage from cameras that the wife installed at the house during the divorce process. No charges were filed.
Fairfax County court records obtained by NBC News illustrate that Justin and Cerina Fairfax were in the midst of a contentious divorce.
She was awarded custody of their children by a judge last month, according to the documents. The two were set to return to court Monday for a three-day trial concerning the splitting of assets, and he had been ordered to leave their home by April 30.
The legal filings detail his daily alcohol use and characterize him as an emotionally withdrawn, “cloistered” man who made a “profound retreat from domestic life” that included negligence of family finances and household tasks.
Cerina Fairfax alleged her husband “had chosen not to be a productive member of the family and that the dictionary definition of ‘deadbeat’ was accurate as applied to him,” Judge Timothy J. McEvoy wrote.
The documents say he purchased a handgun in 2022 with money intended for horseback riding lessons for his kids — in part because he lost the personal security afforded to him as lieutenant governor.
He left home with the gun and clothes in a suitcase at some point the same year. Fairfax’s family found him in “the woods of a public park,” according to court documents, where he was “experiencing some kind of adverse psychological event.” Fairfax’s brother arranged for a mental health professional to speak to him in a parking lot at 1 a.m. the following morning.
Speaking to reporters at the Thursday-morning news conference, Davis said Fairfax was a “rising star politically” in Virginia.
“It’s high-profile in nature. It’s tragic in nature — certainly a fall from grace for a relatively high-profile family that seemingly had a lot of things going in their favor,” Davis said. “So tragic for the children to lose both parents, extra tragic for them to actually be in the home when it occurred.”
Victim services are assisting the teenage son and daughter, who are both high school students, Davis said.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
If you or someone you know is facing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence hotline for help at (800) 799-SAFE (7233), or go to www.thehotline.org for more. States often have domestic violence hotlines as well.
