On April 16, former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife, Cerina Wanzer Fairfax, before taking his own life amid a divorce. Just three days later in Louisiana, a father murdered multiple children of his own and gravely injured both their mother and his estranged wife before turning the gun on himself. He was also going through a divorce. These cases are often framed as shocking, unthinkable tragedies — aberrations no one could have predicted. But I have spent more than two decades representing victims of domestic violence in family courts. Over and over, I have seen the same warning signs: coercive control, separation, threats, access to weapons, mental instability. These tragedies are not unpredictable. They are patterned — and they are preventable.\n\n— Slate, April 25, 2026