By Rebekah Riess, Eric Levenson, Brian Todd, Dugald McConnell

(CNN) — Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a once-rising star in the Democratic Party whose tenure was marred by sexual assault allegations, shot and killed his wife, Cerina Fairfax, inside their home and then killed himself, police said.

The couple’s two teenage children were inside the home when the shootings occurred, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said, noting their son had placed the 911 call.

Fairfax County police responded to the home in Annandale, Virginia, shortly after midnight Thursday, where they found a man and woman dead inside, police said earlier.

The shooting stemmed from an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding “what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce,” Davis said.

Cerina Fairfax filed for divorce on July 18, 2025, and the case status is pending, according to Fairfax County Circuit Court records. A show cause order issued April 10 directed Justin Fairfax to appear in court on April 21, the records show.

Detectives have reviewed the incident using “a lot of cameras,” which were set up inside the home as part of the couple’s ongoing divorce proceedings, Davis said. He noted that a call to police by Justin Fairfax in January, alleging assault by his wife, was not corroborated.

How the shooting unfolded

Fairfax appeared to have shot his wife several times in the basement of the home before running upstairs to the primary bedroom, where he shot and killed himself, Davis said. The couple had been living together in separate bedrooms while separated, he said.

The same firearm appears to have been used in both shootings, Davis said.

Dispatch audio recorded on Broadcastify captures the moments after the incident, as the couple’s son placed the 911 call.

“Caller stating that his dad might have stabbed his mom,” a dispatcher can be heard saying on the audio. The dispatcher adds that the caller said she was “lying on the ground bleeding” with holes in her shirt.

Officers can then be heard on the audio searching for a suspect, eventually finding a male matching the description with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“I think this is going to be our subject. He’s got a firearm with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” one officer can be heard saying.

Two bodies could be seen being removed from the home in body bags on stretchers around 10 a.m. Thursday.

“So tragic for the children to lose both parents, extra tragic for them to actually be in the home when it occurred,” Davis said Thursday morning. “Certainly a fall from grace for a relatively high-profile family that seemingly had a lot of things going in their favor.”

The children are being cared for by grandparents and other family members, with support from the Fairfax County Police Department’s victim services division, Davis said.

“Half of America probably goes through divorce proceedings at some point in time and very, very rarely, thankfully, does it ever end up like this,” Davis said. “So, very sad for this community … a lot of people who know the Fairfax family — everybody’s shocked. We’re shocked.”

“The feeling is we have enough bad news going on in the world nowadays, and this kind of stuff just adds to it,” said Peter DeMeo, who has lived in the neighborhood for 32 years. “I think a lot about the children. Both parents are gone now. What does that do for them and their futures? They’ve got something to work out, unfortunately.”

“I am deeply saddened by the tragedy that occurred last night,” Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said in a statement Thursday. “I am praying for the Fairfax children, and I ask my fellow Virginians to hold them in their hearts and prayers.”

“This tragedy reminds us that domestic violence can occur in any family and in any place,” Spanberger’s statement said.

Struggles with alcohol and ‘emotional and psychological issues’

As part of the ongoing divorce proceedings, a Virginia judge wrote in a legal order last month that Fairfax had repeated problems with alcohol use and had “cloistered himself” in his home since leaving state government in 2022.

“Together, these facts paint a vivid picture of Father as a talented man who struggles with undefined emotional and psychological issues,” Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Timothy J. McEvoy wrote.

On March 30, 2026, McEvoy issued a custody and visitation order that detailed some of Justin Fairfax’s struggles dating back over a decade.

“(T)he evidence established that father’s mental and emotional health has suffered materially and substantially from the impact of at least two personal setbacks,” McEvoy wrote, citing his 2013 electoral loss and the 2019 sexual assault allegations.

At the time of the allegations, Fairfax “was an ascendant political figure who was eyeing a run for governor,” the judge wrote. “The Assault Allegations deeply affected Father and appear to have put an end to those plans.”

Fairfax subsequently “used alcohol heavily and withdrew from the family,” the judge wrote. When he left his position in state government in 2022, “the same behaviors reemerged more profoundly and have not abated to this day,” the judge wrote.

The former lieutenant governor “cloistered himself” in his office and home “and has lost focus on his family and domestic life,” the judge wrote. He allowed the mortgage to go into default multiple times and ignored other bills and obligations, and his wife testified that “heavy daily alcohol consumption by Father has become the norm,” the judge wrote. Justin Fairfax “did not seriously contest these claims,” the order states.

Fairfax was twice sued in recent years in “warrant in debt” cases tied to thousands of dollars in unpaid debts, with both cases resulting in default judgments in favor of the banks, Virginia court records show.

Justin Fairfax bought a handgun in 2022, the judge wrote. That year, he left home with the gun and clothes in a suitcase, spurring a frantic search before he was found in the woods of a public park near the family’s home, the judge wrote. “It is clear that Father was experiencing some kind of adverse psychological event,” McEvoy wrote.

The judge ordered Justin Fairfax to leave the home by April 30 and find his own residence. He was also ordered to test for alcohol an hour before visits with the children.

Cerina and Justin Fairfax were married in June 2006 and have two children, ages 16 and 14, according to the divorce filing. The two separated on June 1, 2024, while still living in the same house, and entered a “post-nuptial agreement” on December 14, 2024, according to the filing.

“There is no expectation or hope of reconciliation between the parties,” Cerina Fairfax’s divorce filing states.

She alleged Justin “has not complied with the post-nuptial agreement in any form since its execution” and “does not make any financial contributions to support the Wife and their children,” the filing states.

She asked the court to award joint legal custody, with the children primarily residing with Cerina Fairfax while Justin Fairfax would have a visitation schedule, according to the filing.

Fairfax’s political rise and fall

Fairfax served as lieutenant governor under Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam from 2018 to 2022. He also ran for governor of Virginia in 2021. He returned to practice law after serving as lieutenant governor, while his wife worked as a dentist, according to Davis.

Fairfax worked to pass gun violence prevention legislation during his time as lieutenant governor and repeatedly described gun violence as a “national health crisis emergency.”

“We need a new, innovative #HeadHandHeart approach to deliver universal and compassionate mental healthcare access and services, to keep weapons of war out of the hands of those at risk of harming others and themselves, and to address the internal damage and brokenness that drives people to cruelty and to want to destroy other people, families and communities,” Fairfax wrote in a 2023 Facebook post after leaving office.

Sexual assault allegations against Fairfax in 2019 came during a tumultuous time for Virginia politics, shortly after Northam was accused of appearing in blackface in a decades-old photo. As the Northam scandal played out, two women accused Fairfax of sexual assault — the first becoming public on a conservative website that covers Virginia politics and the second in a Washington Post story.

Fairfax repeatedly denied the allegations and called for investigations into the accusations, saying he was “confident” it would clear his name.

Virginia Democrats expressed shock and horror following the news Thursday morning.

Sen. Mark Warner told reporters, “It’s awful news. I’ve worked with Justin for over a decade, and obviously, the idea that even his teenage kids were in the house, it’s a – it’s a huge tragedy.”

Fairfax chaired one of Warner’s reelection campaigns in the years before he was accused of sexual assault.

“I’m still just processing this, you know, I’m sure there’ll be an investigation, but let’s let it run its course,” Warner said.

Sen. Tim Kaine said he and Warner are “very heartbroken about this.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.