Justin Fairfax

Former Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax, 49, fatally shot his wife, Cerina Fairfax, at their Annandale home just after midnight and then killed himself, Fairfax County police said. Authorities say Cerina was found in the basement with multiple gunshot wounds and Fairfax was later discovered upstairs in the primary bedroom with a self-inflicted gunshot wound; their teenage children were in the house and their son placed the 911 call, initially reporting he thought his mother had been stabbed. Police have described the deaths as an apparent murder-suicide tied to an ongoing domestic dispute: the couple were separated and in the early stages of a contentious divorce, and Fairfax had recently been served with divorce paperwork. Law-enforcement officials also noted an earlier January call in which Justin Fairfax alleged his wife assaulted him, a claim investigators say was contradicted by home-security footage.