Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax kills wife and then himself, police say

BREAKING NEWSApr. 16, 2026, 1:20 PM UTCPolitics NewsPolitics NewsFormer Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax kills wife, self amid divorce proceedings, police sayFairfax served as lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022 and previously ran for governor of Virginia.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax killed his wife and them himself overnight, police said. Katherine Frey / The Washington Post via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleBy Rebecca ShabadVirginia's former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax fatally shot his wife and himself 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 at a news conference Thursday morning that their teenage children were at the house in Annandale, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C., when the shootings occurred. "Former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife inside of their home and then shot and killed himself," Davis said, adding that their older son called 911 just after midnight.Davis described the incident as the result of a "domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce." Police are in the preliminary stage of the investigation, but Davis said that Fairfax was recently served paperwork indicating when he was scheduled to next appear in court for the ongoing divorce proceedings. The former lieutenant governor, who was 47, 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 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 when they attended the Democratic National Convention in Boston.Fairfax denied the accusations, saying the en...