Justin Fairfax, former lieutenant governor of Virginia, shot and killed his wife, Cerina Fairfax, before fatally shooting himself at their Annandale home, police said. The Fairfax County Police Department said officers answered a 911 call from one of the couple’s teenage children shortly after midnight.
Kevin Davis, chief of the Fairfax County Police Department, said the killings occurred amid what he described as "an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce." Davis said "Former lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife inside of their home and then shot and killed himself."
Police said the couple’s two teenage children were inside the house when officers arrived. Davis also said that Fairfax "was recently served some paperwork associated with an upcoming court proceeding that apparently led to this incident last night."
Background And Reactions
Justin Fairfax, 47, served as Virginia’s lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022 under Governor Ralph Northam, and was the second African American to hold statewide office in Virginia since Reconstruction. His political rise stalled in 2019 when two women accused him of sexual assault, allegations he denied, and he later finished fourth in the 2021 Democratic gubernatorial primary with 3.54% of the vote.
Court documents describe a troubled period after Fairfax left office, saying he consumed heavy amounts of alcohol and became isolated from family. The records state he purchased a gun in 2022 and on one occasion left the house with the firearm and a packed suitcase, and that Cerina Fairfax, her stepfather and another relative later found him in a park, where he said the gun was for his personal security.
In divorce papers, Judge Timothy J McEvoy wrote that Fairfax was a "talented man who struggles with undefined emotional and psychological issues" and said those issues limited his role as a father. The judge set an April 30 deadline for Fairfax to move out of the family home and granted Cerina Fairfax primary physical custody of the couple’s two children.
Police had been called to the residence in January after Fairfax accused his wife of assault, Davis said, and officers found the allegation untrue after reviewing footage from cameras Cerina Fairfax had installed. Journalist Sophia Nelson, who said she was a friend of Fairfax, told viewers in a video on X she was devastated for the children and said "Cerina did not deserve what Justin did to her." Nelson said Fairfax appeared to be depressed and in darkness, and she quoted him saying, "I need somebody to help me, to prove my innocence. I can't get my life back until somebody stands up for me."
For those in crisis in the US the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In the UK Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org.
