Justin Fairfax, the former Virginia lieutenant governor, shot and killed his wife, Cerina, a dentist, before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life. The dispute was apparently sparked by the couple’s divorce over allegations that he had been unfaithful.

Fairfax and his wife were found dead by Fairfax County police in their Annandale home near Washington D.C., early Thursday. 

“Former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife inside their home and then shot and killed himself,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a news conference Thursday morning outside the couple’s home in the Annandale area. 

According to Davis, Fairfax shot his wife several times in the basement of their home and then ran upstairs to a bedroom, where he shot and killed himself. 

“This has been an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce. Both of the couple’s children, a teenage boy and girl, were at home when the shooting occurred, Davis said. Their son called 911,” Davis said.

Davis said that Fairfax, 47, was recently served paperwork related to an upcoming court proceeding. The couple, he said, were separated but living together. They married in 2006. 

Dr. Cerina Fairfax was a dentist with her own practice, Dr. Fairfax & Associates, in the Fairlee area of Fairfax County. 

She graduated from Duke University in 1999 and Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College of Virginia School of Dentistry in 2005, according to the dentistry practice website. Justin Fairfax also attended Duke, graduating in 2000.

A court ordered Fairfax to leave the family home and give up custody of his children, according to the Washington Post.

In January, Davis said, Justin Fairfax called police and reported that he had been assaulted by his wife. Police responded and determined that no assault had occurred.

Fairfax, a Democrat, was elected to Virginia’s second-highest office in 2017, becoming the second African American elected statewide in Virginia. 

He served with former governor Ralph Northam and was once a favorite to become the state’s next governor, but allegations of affairs with other women surfaced, resulting in a drop in his polling numbers. 

In 2019, Fairfax faced sexual assault allegations dating to 2000 and 2004. He denied them, but they upended his 2021 campaign for governor. In the Democratic primary that year, Fairfax came in fourth, with just over 17,600 votes.

Gov. Northam said. “Pam and I are devastated by this heartbreaking news. I had the privilege of getting to know the Fairfaxes while our families served together,” he said in the statement Thursday morning.