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We have horrifying news to report out of Virginia today.
Justin Fairfax, 47, a prominent lawyer and former lieutenant governor of Virginia, appears to have died by suicide after murdering his wife, Cerina Fairfax.
The shootings reportedly took place just after midnight on Thursday.
Police say the Fairfaxes had been in the throes of a “messy divorce” since July of last year.
“It is high-profile in nature, it’s tragic in nature. Certainly a fall from grace for a relatively high profile family that seemingly had had a lot of things going in their favor,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said in a statement, according to The New York Post.
“So tragic for the children to lose both parents, extra tragic for them to actually be in the home when it occurred. So yeah, there’s a lot going on,” Davis continued, adding:
“This has been an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that there’s been a divorce proceedings that have been ongoing.
“From what I understand in this early stage, former Lieutenant Governor Fairfax was recently served some paperwork associated with an upcoming court proceeding that apparently led to this incident last night.”
The former lieutenant governor had been on local authorities’ radar for several months.
Back in January, Justin falsely accused Cerina of physically assaulting him inside their home.
Police determined that he had made a false report after reviewing security camera footage.
It was not the first time that Fairfax had been embroiled in public controversy.
According to the Post, two women accused him of sexually assaulting them in 2000 and 2004.
The claims surfaced in 2019, apparently helping to bring about the end of the Fairfaxes’ marriage.
Fairfax maintained that the encounters were consensual, and he refused to resign from his post.
He launched his own failed bid for the governorship in 2021.
Fairfax was eventually ousted from his lieutenant governor post with the election of Republican Winsome Earle-Sears in 2022.
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
Justin Fairfax: Former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Kills Wife, Self was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.