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Former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax took his children’s horseback riding money to purchase the gun he used to kill their mother, according to court documents. Divorce documents obtained by the New York Post reveal that Fairfax purchased the handgun in 2022 — the same year he left office after sexual assault allegations had severely …
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Former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax took his children’s horseback riding money to purchase the gun he used to kill their mother, according to court documents.
Divorce documents obtained by the New York Post reveal that Fairfax purchased the handgun in 2022 — the same year he left office after sexual assault allegations had severely damaged his political career — with cash that had been set aside for his children’s horseback riding lessons. Also in that same year, “heavy daily alcohol” use became part of his normal routine.
Fairfax went from being considered “a rising star” in politics to spending his days isolated in his home office surrounded by “empty wine bottles, trash and piles of dirty laundry.” The divorce documents allege he only came out “to get food or smoke cigarettes.”
His wife, Cerina Fairfax, was in the process of getting a divorce from her self-proclaimed “deadbeat” husband. Representing himself in court, Justin did not deny any of Cerina’s allegations against him. A judge ordered Justin to leave his shared home with Cerina by April 30, but 14 days before his scheduled eviction, Fairfax killed his wife.
The couple’s teenage children were home at the time, and their son placed the 911 call after Fairfax had shot his wife in the basement and had gone upstairs to shoot himself in the head. Police responded to the house in Annandale, Virginia, “shortly after midnight.”
The shooting was not Fairfax’s first troubling incident involving the weapon. In 2022, he went to a public park with the firearm and a suitcase of clothes, where he was later found by his wife and her stepfather. Fairfax said he carried the weapon for protection after losing his security detail when his term ended. Around 1 a.m., his brother arranged for a mental health professional to speak with him in the park parking lot.
The Fairfaxes had been married for over twenty years when Cerina filed for divorce in July 2025. Court documents indicate that Justin’s downward spiral accelerated after he faced sexual assault allegations in 2019. According to the New York Post, after the scandal, Fairfax could not find a job or attract legal clients despite opening a private legal practice out of his home. Cerina worked as a dentist.
Fairfax served one term as lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022. In 2021, Fairfax ran for governor, but ultimately failed to win the Democratic primary. While Fairfax served as lieutenant governor, he pushed for gun control.
