A former lieutenant governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, has killed his wife, Cerina, before taking his own life in their home on Thursday, police authorities said.

Fairfax County police chief Kevin Davis said the couple’s teenage children were inside when Mr Fairfax, 47, killed his wife in their Annandale home and subsequently shot himself.

Mr Davis, who disclosed that the late couple had been embroiled in a “complicated or messy divorce,” said the couple’s son called 911 to report the incident.

“It is high-profile in nature; it’s tragic in nature,” said Mr Davis. “Certainly a fall from grace for a relatively high-profile family that seemingly had had a lot of things going in their favour.”

The police chief added, “So tragic for the children to lose both parents; extra tragic for them to actually be in the home when it occurred.”

Mr Davis confirmed that though they separated, they lived together and were involved in ongoing divorce proceedings. He stated that this led to the incident.

He said court records indicated that Mrs Fairfax had served the former Democrat divorce papers in July 2025. They were married for 20 years.

“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 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,” said Mr Davis.

The police chief said the incident was reviewed withmultiple cameras installed in their home amid their divorce proceedings.

He disclosed that the former lieutenant governor in January called the police, alleging that his wife assaulted him, but investigators found the claim to be untrue after review of footage.

“Half of America probably goes through divorce proceedings at some point in time, and very, very rarely, thankfully, does it ever end up like this,” Mr Davis said. “So, very sad for this community … a lot of people who know the Fairfax family—everybody’s shocked. We’re shocked.”

Mr Fairfax was a lawyer who served as Virginia’s 41st lieutenant governor under Governor Ralph Northam from 2018 to 2022. He also contested governorship in 2021.

While in office in 2019, the late Democrat faced sexual assault accusations by at least two women. He denied the accusations and claimed the encounters were consensual.