Background: The home in Annandale, Virginia, where the shooting took place (WSET/YouTube). Inset: Justin and Cerina Fairfax in a photo Justin Fairfax posted in May 2023 (Justin Fairfax/Facebook).
After being handed court paperwork concerning divorce proceedings, a former lieutenant governor of Virginia shot and killed his wife before turning the gun on himself, authorities say.
Justin Fairfax, 47, shot and killed his wife, Cerina Fairfax, before fatally shooting himself, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis stated, describing the situation as an apparent murder-suicide during a press conference streamed by Richmond CBS affiliate WTVR. Both the husband and wife were pronounced dead at the scene of their Annandale, Virginia, home.
"From what I understand in this early stage … former Lieutenant Governor Fairfax was recently served some paperwork associated with an upcoming court proceeding," Davis said of the couple's apparently "complicated or messy divorce." On Wednesday night, Justin and Cerina Fairfax were at their home along with their two teenage children.
Investigators believe that the husband and wife were in the home's basement when Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife and then ran upstairs into the main bedroom and shot and killed himself with the same gun. The son — the older of the two children — then called 911.
Davis said this wasn't the first time that law enforcement responded to the home.
"In January of this year, Mr. Fairfax calls the police and alleges that his wife assaulted him," the police chief recounted, saying Justin and Cerina Fairfax were separated but still lived in the same home, just in separate bedrooms. "We responded to that scene. There are several cameras set up inside the house. Apparently, Mrs. Fairfax, at some point during these divorce proceedings, set up a lot of cameras inside the home. We reviewed those cameras, and we corroborated that the alleged assault never occurred."
No one was arrested. "So that's the only time that the Fairfax County Police Department has ever been at the Fairfax home," Davis added.
The police chief acknowledged that the couple's divorce proceedings appeared to be no secret, given their notoriety. In addition to serving as lieutenant governor of the commonwealth from 2018 to 2022, Justin Fairfax ran for governor in 2021, losing the Democratic primary election. Cerina Fairfax was a dentist.
"I think it's fair to say that Justin Fairfax, before he was lieutenant governor, while he served as lieutenant governor, and even afterwards, was a rising star politically, not just in Northern Virginia, but in Virginia," Davis said. "So 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."
He added that it is "tragic for the children to lose both parents, extra tragic for them to actually be in the home when it occurred."
After his failed 2021 governor bid, Justin Fairfax returned to practicing law. He has faced sexual assault allegations dating back to 2004 and 2000, though he denied any wrongdoing.
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