In a shocking murder-suicide at their Annandale home, former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife, Cerina Fairfax, before turning the gun on himself. Kevin Davis, the chief of police in Fairfax County, said that the event was caused by a “complicated or messy divorce” and that the community was not in danger.
A 911 call from the couple’s teenage son came in shortly after midnight on April 16, 2026. The police first thought it might be a stabbing. Officers found Cerina Fairfax, a dentist, shot many times in the basement, with bullet casings nearby. Justin Fairfax was dead upstairs from a wound he gave himself. Their teenage kids were home but unharmed, and the investigation points to a one-time fight at home.
Justin Fairfax, a Democrat and former federal prosecutor, was Virginia’s lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022 under Gov. Ralph Northam. He is 47 years old. His career, which had once looked promising, hit a snag when he was accused of sexual assault in 2019, which he denied. This led to calls for his resignation from other Democrats and a failed bid for governor in 2021. The tragedy brings back attention to the dangers of domestic violence during separations.
Ghazala Hashmi is the current lieutenant governor of Virginia. She took office on January 17, 2026, as the state’s 43rd lieutenant governor. She is the first Muslim woman and South Asian American to be elected statewide. She took over from Winsome Earle-Sears (R), who won in 2021 and served from 2022 to 2026. Hashmi is in charge of the Senate, but this event has nothing to do with him.
