It was less than a decade ago that Justin Fairfax stood at the Virginia State Capitol as a history-maker, having become just the second Black man to ever be elected to one of the state’s top offices as lieutenant governor. But the promise of that milestone was shattered early Thursday morning.
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Justin Fairfax and his wife, Dr. Cerina W. Fairfax, were in the middle of “what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce,” Fairfax County Police Department Chief Kevin Davis said after police were called to their Annandale, Virginia, home just after midnight Thursday, 7News reported.
Upon their arrival to the 8100 block of Guinevere Drive, police found a man and a woman dead inside. Preliminary police findings indicate Fairfax, 47, fatally shot his wife several times before turning the gun on himself.
Police said Fairfax killed Cerina in the basement of their home before going to the primary bedroom. It was there police said he shot himself with the same gun.
The couple was “separated but living together” in different bedrooms when the former Virginia lieutenant governor was served paperwork that may have “sparked” the shooting, Fairfax County police said.
“Mr. Fairfax was served some type of paperwork indicating when he was scheduled to next appear in court for the ongoing divorce proceedings. So I guess that is, well, that is something that we’re looking at as something that may have led to whatever happened last night that led to the murder of a mother and a wife and a citizen,” FCPD chief said.
The couple, who tied the knot in June 2006 after meeting at Duke University, has two teenage children who were home at the time of the shooting. One of them called 911, according to CNN.
“Caller stating that his dad might have stabbed his mom,” a dispatcher can be heard saying on the 911 audio. The caller told the dispatcher their mom was “lying on the ground bleeding” with holes in her shirt.
The children are now being cared for by grandparents and other family members.
Inside the home, FCPD said Cerina Fairfax had “a lot of cameras” installed as part of their ongoing divorce proceedings and previous alleged assaults reported to police.
Cerina Fairfax, a dentist, filed for divorce on July 18, 2025, according to Fairfax County Circuit Court records. The former Democrat lieutenant governor was scheduled to appear in court on April 21.
Fairfax served as lieutenant governor under Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam from 2018 to 2022 and was considered a rising star in politics. However, his trailblazing tenure was marred with sexual assault allegations in 2019.
Two women accused him of sexual assault, but ultimately no criminal charges were filed and no formal legal finding of wrongdoing was reached in the sexual assault charges.
“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,” FCPD said. “So, very sad for this community… a lot of people who know the Fairfax family — everybody’s shocked. We’re shocked.”
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