Former Virginia Gov. Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife before turning the gun on himself at their home in northern Virginia, police said Thursday, April 16, according to the Associated Press.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said the couple was going through divorce proceedings at the time of the incident.
According to Davis, officers previously responded to the home in January after Fairfax claimed his wife had assaulted him.
“There are several cameras set up inside the house,” Davis said. “Ms. Fairfax installed a bunch of cameras inside the house at some point during these divorce proceedings. We’ve reviewed those cameras and confirmed that the alleged assault never took place. So no arrests have been made.”
A teenage son’s 911 call leads police to the scene
Authorities said the couple’s teenage son called 911 shortly after midnight and told dispatchers he believed his mother had been stabbed. However, when officers arrived, they found shell casings near Cerina Fairfax’s body, indicating she had been shot.
Police later discovered Justin Fairfax upstairs in the home with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said the shooting appeared to be quick without a prolonged confrontation.
“I think it all happened at once,” Davis said. “There was no pause… everything happened quite spontaneously.
The couple was going through divorce proceedings
Davis described the incident as the culmination of an ongoing domestic dispute related to a contentious divorce. Cerina Fairfax filed for divorce in July last year.
“This is an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what appears to be a complicated or messy divorce,” Davis said during a Thursday morning briefing.
Children present at home during incident
He also highlighted the impact on the couple’s children, noting that they were present in the home at the time.
“This is certainly a loss of grace for a relatively high-profile family that seemed to have a lot going for them,” Davis said. “Tragic for the kids to lose both parents. Extremely tragic for them to actually be in the house when it happened.”
Justin Fairfax served as Virginia’s 41st governor from 2018 to 2022. Police said the investigation is still ongoing, although they are not looking for additional suspects.
