Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax shot and killed his spouse, Cerina, after which turned the gun on himself in a murder-suicide of their residence in Annandale, Virginia, police mentioned Thursday.
Fairfax County police mentioned that simply after midnight, Fairfax shot his spouse a number of occasions within the basement of their residence after which went upstairs to the first bed room and shot and killed himself.
Each their teenage youngsters have been residence when the incident occurred. In accordance with two sources with information of the investigation, Fairfax’s son referred to as 911 simply after midnight from the house. The caller mentioned he thought his mom, Cerina Fairfax, had been stabbed. When police arrived on the residence, they discovered bullet casings close to her physique. Later, they discovered Justin Fairfax upstairs with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police mentioned there was no extended confrontation earlier than the capturing.
“I believe all of it sort of occurred directly,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis mentioned. “There wasn’t a pause … all of it occurred fairly spontaneously.”
Police mentioned that Fairfax and his spouse have been within the early levels of divorce proceedings, and Fairfax had lately been served paperwork associated to that divorce.
“This has been an ongoing home dispute surrounding what appears to be a sophisticated or messy divorce,” Davis mentioned throughout a briefing Thursday morning.
The couple had been residing collectively however have been separated, residing in separate bedrooms. Cerina Fairfax filed for divorce final July.
Davis referred to as the incident “traumatic” for the 2 teenage youngsters. He mentioned victims’ providers are working with them and different members of the family.
“That is actually a fall from grace for a comparatively high-profile household that seemingly had loads of issues going for them,” Davis mentioned. “Tragic for the youngsters to lose each mother and father. Further tragic for them to really be within the residence when it occurred.”
In January, Fairfax referred to as police alleging his spouse assaulted him, though police decided on the time that the assault by no means occurred, based mostly on footage from cameras on the residence that had been positioned by Cerina Fairfax.
Justin Fairfax, who was 47, served because the forty first lieutenant governor of Virginia, serving from 2018 till 2022. In 2019, a girl accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2004, and one other lady accused him of raping her after they have been each school college students. He mentioned each encounters have been consensual.
Justin and Cerina Fairfax met at Duke College.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia on Thursday referred to as it “terrible information,” and mentioned he was “nonetheless simply processing this” whereas the investigation runs its course.
“You by no means know what is going on on in any household,” Warner mentioned. “However I used to be simply speaking with Tim Kaine, we have been each shocked … This surprising shock, and for an terrible lot of us that labored with Justin, he was an unlimited expertise, and I simply can’t think about what his household goes by way of.”
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger referred to as the incident a “horrific tragedy.”
“I’m deeply saddened by the tragedy that occurred final night time,” she mentioned in a press release. “I’m praying for the Fairfax youngsters, and I ask my fellow Virginians to carry them of their hearts and prayers.”
Cerina Fairfax, in accordance with her bio at her dental observe, liked to learn, run trails, observe yoga, journey and spend time together with her household. She graduated magna cum laude from Virginia Commonwealth College’s Faculty of Dentistry in 2005.
Her observe mentioned she was “dedicated to serving not solely her sufferers however others as effectively by way of participation in neighborhood outreach applications, volunteer and sponsorship alternatives, vocational coaching applications, and contributions to native charities and nonprofits supposed to help people and/or organizations serving to these in want.”
