Virginia’s former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who was a rising star in the Democratic party several years ago before his career was derailed by sexual assault allegations, fatally shot his wife before killing himself, police said Thursday.

Both were found dead at their northern Virginia home in Annandale after the couple’s teenage son called 911 shortly after midnight Thursday, said Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis.

The couple was going through a divorce, and Fairfax was served recently with paperwork that indicated when he was next to appear in court, Davis said.

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

For a brief period in 2019, Fairfax had seemed poised to become Virginia governor as Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam became engulfed in a scandal over a racist photo on his medical school yearbook that led to calls for Northam’s resignation.

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

Vanessa Tyson said Fairfax — at the time a Columbia Law School student serving as an aide to Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards — forced her to perform oral sex in his hotel room during the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. Two days after Tyson’s statement, Meredith Watson issued her own, accusing Fairfax of raping her in 2000, when they were students at Duke University.

The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they are victims of sexual assault, but both women came forward publicly. Fairfax said the encounters were consensual and refused calls to resign.

“It’s very sad for this community,” Davis said. “A lot of people who know the Fairfax family, everybody’s shocked. We’re shocked.”

(AP)