Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax kills wife, self amid divorce proceedings, police say

Former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax fatally shot himself and his wife inside their home overnight, according to local police.

Subscribe to read this story ad-free

Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.

Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said in a news conference Thursday morning that their teenage children were at the home in Annandale, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., when the shooting occurred.

“Former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax shot his wife inside their home and then killed himself,” Davis said, adding that their oldest son called 911 just after midnight.

Davis described the incident as the result of “family conflict surrounding what appears to be a messy or messy divorce.”

Police are in the preliminary stages of the investigation, but Davis said Fairfax recently received documents indicating the scheduled date of his next court appearance for the ongoing divorce proceedings.

The 47-year-old former lieutenant governor served in the role from 2018 to 2022 under Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam.

In 2019, two women accused Fairfax of sexual assault years earlier, prompting Virginia Democrats to call for his resignation. Meredith Watson claimed that Fairfax raped her in 2000 while they were students at Duke University. Vanessa Tyson accused Fairfax of forcing her to perform oral sex in 2004 while they attended the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Fairfax has denied the accusations, saying the encounters with the women were consensual. He said he would remain in office and called for an FBI investigation into the allegations.

When he ran in the Democratic primary for governor in 2021, Fairfax, who was Black, said during the gubernatorial debate that he was treated like George Floyd and Emmett Till when Democrats immediately called for his resignation after the women made the allegations.