Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife, Cerina, and then turned the gun on himself in a murder-suicide in their home in Annandale, Virginia, police said Thursday.
Fairfax County police said that just after midnight, Fairfax shot his wife several times in the basement of their home and then went upstairs to the primary bedroom and shot and killed himself.
Both their teenage children were home when the incident occurred. According to two sources with knowledge of the investigation, Fairfax's son called 911 just after midnight from the home. The caller said he thought his mother, Cerina Fairfax, had been stabbed. When police arrived at the home, they found bullet casings near her body. Later, they found Justin Fairfax upstairs with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police said there was no prolonged confrontation before the shooting.
"I think it all kind of happened at once," Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said. "There wasn't a pause … it all happened pretty spontaneously."
Police said that Fairfax and his wife were in the early stages of divorce proceedings, and Fairfax had recently been served paperwork related to that divorce.
"This has been an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce," Davis said during a briefing Thursday morning.
The couple had been living together but were separated, residing in separate bedrooms. Cerina Fairfax filed for divorce last July.
Davis called the incident "traumatic" for the two teenage children. He said victims' services are working with them and other family members.
"This is certainly a fall from grace for a relatively high-profile family that seemingly had a lot of things going for them," Davis said. "Tragic for the children to lose both parents. Extra tragic for them to actually be in the home when it occurred."
In January, Fairfax called police alleging his wife assaulted him, although police determined at the time that the assault never occurred, based on footage from cameras at the home that had been placed by Cerina Fairfax.
Justin Fairfax, who was 47, served as the 41st lieutenant governor of Virginia, serving from 2018 until 2022. In 2019, a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2004, and another woman accused him of raping her when they were both college students. He said both encounters were consensual.
Justin and Cerina Fairfax met at Duke University.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia on Thursday called it "awful news," and said he was "still just processing this" while the investigation runs its course.
"You never know what's going on in any family," Warner said. "But I was just talking with Tim Kaine, we were both shocked ... This unexpected shock, and for an awful lot of us that worked with Justin, he was an enormous talent, and I just can't imagine what his family is going through."
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger called the incident a "horrific tragedy."
"I am deeply saddened by the tragedy that occurred last night," she said in a statement. "I am praying for the Fairfax children, and I ask my fellow Virginians to hold them in their hearts and prayers."
Cerina Fairfax, according to her bio at her dental practice, loved to read, run trails, practice yoga, travel and spend time with her family. She graduated magna cum laude from Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Dentistry in 2005.
Her practice said she was "committed to serving not only her patients but others as well through participation in community outreach programs, volunteer and sponsorship opportunities, vocational training programs, and contributions to local charities and nonprofits intended to aid individuals and/or organizations helping those in need."
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