Justin Fairfax, Virginia's lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022, fatally shot his wife and himself inside their Annandale home overnight, police said Thursday. Their teenage children were present in the house when the shootings occurred.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis announced the deaths at a morning news conference, describing the incident as stemming from a "domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce." The couple's older son dialed 911 just after midnight.
Davis said Fairfax had recently been served court paperwork related to the next scheduled appearance in divorce proceedings. The investigation remains in preliminary stages. Fairfax was 47.
The former lieutenant governor served under Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam. In 2019, his political career was upended when two women publicly accused him of sexual assault years before his time in office. Meredith Watson alleged Fairfax raped her in 2000 when both were Duke University students. Vanessa Tyson said he forced her to perform oral sex in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Fairfax denied both allegations, characterizing the encounters as consensual. He resisted calls from fellow Virginia Democrats to resign, instead demanding an FBI investigation into the claims.
When Fairfax entered the 2021 Democratic primary race for governor, he invoked the names of George Floyd and Emmett Till during a debate, arguing that he had been treated with the same injustice when party leaders immediately demanded his resignation following the women's accusations.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "A political career derailed by allegations, a marriage deteriorating in public court filings, and now a tragedy that ends any possibility of resolution or redemption."
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