A former Virginia lieutenant governor and his wife were found dead in their Annandale home early Thursday morning in what authorities are calling a murder-suicide.
Justin Fairfax, who served as Virginia's second-in-command from 2018 to 2022, allegedly shot his wife Cerina multiple times before turning the gun on himself, according to Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis. The couple's teenage children were present in the home at the time of the incident.
"This has been an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce," Davis said during a Thursday morning briefing. "I think it all kind of happened at once. There wasn't a pause... it all happened pretty spontaneously."
Police responded to an emergency call from the couple's son just after midnight local time. The caller initially reported that his mother might have been stabbed, but investigators later found bullet casings near Cerina Fairfax's body.
Chief Davis described the situation as "tragic for the children to lose both parents" and noted the added trauma of them being in the home when the violence occurred. He characterized the deaths as "a fall from grace for a relatively high-profile family that seemingly had a lot of things going for them."
Fairfax, who was the second Black person elected to statewide office in Virginia, saw his political career overshadowed by sexual assault allegations during his tenure, which he consistently denied. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2021, losing in the Democratic primary.
Former Governor Ralph Northam, under whom Fairfax served, expressed devastation at the news in a statement: "Pam and I are devastated by this heartbreaking news. I had the privilege of getting to know the Fairfaxes while our families served together."
Police confirmed the couple had been living together but were separated at the time of the incident. The investigation remains ongoing as authorities work to understand the full circumstances surrounding the tragedy.