Virginia’s former lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, has shot and killed his wife before taking his own life in an apparent murder-suicide, according to authorities in the United States.

The 47-year-old politician and his wife, 49-year-old dentist Cerina Fairfax, were found dead in their home in the Washington, DC, suburb of Annandale in northern Virginia. Their teenage son called the police shortly after midnight to report the crime.

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Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said on Thursday that the incident appears to have been related to the couple’s ongoing divorce.

“It’s very sad for this community,” Davis said. “A lot of people who know the Fairfax family. Everybody’s shocked. We’re shocked.”

The Associated Press reported that Cerina and Justin Fairfax had separated in 2024 and filed for divorce last year, citing a court filing. Police indicated on Thursday that they were still living in the same home with their two children, both of whom were at home at the time of the shootings.

Fairfax was “recently served some paperwork associated with an upcoming court proceeding”, Davis explained. “That apparently led to this incident.”

He added that Fairfax’s wife had installed cameras in the home and that the former lieutenant governor had called the police in January, stating that his wife had assaulted him.

Footage from the cameras disproved that claim, according to Davis.

Fairfax, once seen as an up-and-coming figure in the state’s Democratic Party, faced allegations of sexual assault, starting in 2019 while he was serving as lieutenant governor.

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Despite resignations from his staff and calls to step down, Fairfax stayed on and served out the remainder of his term in office, until 2022. He denounced the allegations against him as false.

He ran for governor in 2021 but largely disappeared from politics after winning less than four percent of the vote.

Thursday’s incident shocked Virginia, with officials expressing condolences for the family of the victims.

“We are keeping Cerina and Justin Fairfax’s family — especially their two children — in our prayers as we all process this shocking and horrifying news,” Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, Virginia’s representatives in the US Senate, said in a joint statement.

The current Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi also called the news “devastating”.

“My thoughts are with their children, loved ones, and numerous friends,” she said. “Along with so many in the [Virginia] Commonwealth, I am filled with sorrow.”