First he shot his wife, then he turned the gun on himself. The US police have started investigations into the murder-suicide case involving Justin Fairfax, a 47-year-old former deputy governor of Virginia, found dead in his home together with Cerina Fairfax, 49, from whom he was separating.
Murder-suicide
The crime occurred on the night between Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th April, in the town of Annandale, Virginia. Fairfax, in office from 2018 to 2022, was the first African American elected to a state office in history and former candidate for governor in 2021. A rising star of the US Democratic Party whose career foundered following accusations of sexual harassment, which the 47-year-old has always firmly denied. In recent weeks, according to US newspapers, Fairfax had been in the throes of a stormy divorce and had been ordered to leave the family home in recent weeks.
Murder-suicide in Virginia (USA): former lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax and his wife died (Photo LaPresse)
The police chief: “We are shocked”
The investigations are ongoing and further investigations will be needed to reconstruct with certainty what happened. As revealed by the police chief, Kevin Davis, the former deputy governor allegedly fired several shots at his wife, before taking his own life, while the couple’s two teenage children, a boy and a girl, were present in the house. It was his son who called 911 for help: “We are all shocked, we are distraught – added Davis -. We know that recently Mr. Fairfax had been served with some documentation indicating when he would have to appear in court again for the divorce proceedings. It is something that we are examining as a possible factor that may have led to what happened last night, which culminated in the murder of a mother and wife and suicide.”
The children in shock
According to initial information, the 47-year-old fired several shots at his wife, then moved to another room to finish it off. The incident shocked the entire community. The Fairfaxes were well known: Justin continued to work as a lawyer after his political career ended, while Cerina was a respected dentist. As explained by the police chief, last January the police had been called to an intervention at the Fairfax home, with the situation having been resolved without any complaint: “No files or charges, but a police report has been drawn up”. The couple’s children are also in shock, and despite the trauma they are collaborating with investigators to reconstruct the events that led to this terrible epilogue.