Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax killed his wife and himself in a murder-suicide inside their home, police in Fairfax County, Va., said on Thursday.

According to authorities, officers responded to the couple’s home in Annandale, Va., shortly after midnight and discovered Fairfax, 47, and his wife, Cerina Fairfax, a 49-year-old dentist, dead inside the residence in what police described as a “domestic-related incident.”

“This has been an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis told reporters early Thursday.

Justin Fairfax had recently been served with paperwork related to an upcoming court proceeding, Davis said.

“That may have been a spark,” the chief said. “Detectives will figure out if that led to this tragedy here.”

The couple, who married in 2006, were separated but living together and sleeping in separate bedrooms, Davis said.

According to the Associated Press, Justin Fairfax was facing a court-ordered deadline to move out of the family’s home.

Authorities believe Justin Fairfax shot his wife multiple times in the basement of the home, then ran upstairs to the primary bedroom, where he fatally shot himself using the same firearm.

The couple's two children — a teenage boy and a teenage girl, both high school students — were inside the house when it happened, according to police. Their son called 911.

“So tragic for the children to lose both parents,” the chief said. “Extra tragic for them to actually be in the home when it occurred.”

In January, officers responded to the home after the former lieutenant governor called police, alleging he had been assaulted by his wife, Davis said.

Police reviewed footage from cameras Cerina Fairfax had installed inside the residence during the divorce proceedings and determined no assault had occurred, the chief said. No charges were filed.

"The family was going through seemingly a very tough time with the separation, with the divorce," Davis said.

He added: “It’s high profile in nature, it’s tragic in nature, certainly a fall from grace for a relatively high-profile family that seemingly had a lot of things going in their favor..”

Fairfax was once considered a rising star in the Democratic Party. He served as Virginia’s lieutenant governor from 2018 until 2022 under then-Gov. Ralph Northam.

In a statement to the Washington Post, Northam said he and his wife were “devastated by this heartbreaking news.”

“I had the privilege of getting to know the Fairfaxes while our families served together,” Northam said.

In 2019, Fairfax appeared poised to take over as governor when Northam was embroiled in a scandal over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook, leading to calls for Northam’s resignation.

But then two women came forward, accusing Fairfax of sexually assaulting them years earlier. Fairfax denied the allegations.

In 2021, Fairfax ran for governor, but sexual assault claims ultimately derailed his bid. He finished a distant fourth in the state’s Democratic primary.

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call 911, or call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.