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Virginia police said Thursday that Justin Fairfax, the state’s former lieutenant governor, shot and killed his wife and then fatally shot himself.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said Thursday that both were found dead at their northern Virginia home after the couple’s teenage son called 911 shortly after midnight.
Davis said his officers responded to the home in January after Justin Fairfax alleged his wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax had assaulted him. After reviewing camera footage from inside the home, the police concluded the alleged assault never occurred.
“This has been an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce,” Davis said.
Fairfax, a law school graudate from Columbia University in New York City, worked for various Democratic political campaigns, clerked for a federal judge and served as a staff member on the U.S. Senate’s judiciary committee before entering Virginia politics.
He was elected in November 2017 as the state’s 41st lieutenant governor, a position second only to the governor in authority.
In early 2019, while serving in Ralph Northam’s state government, Fairfax faced accusations of sexual assault from two women. The alleged assaults occurred in 2000 and 2004.
Fairfax characterized the allegations as a “co-ordinated smear campaign.” He defied calls from both Democrats and Republicans to resign, and the allegations made by the women were to media outlets and were never tested in a civil or criminal court.
Fairfax ran for governor in 2021, though the Democrats selected former governor Terry McAuliffe as their candidate that year.