Widower of Virginia Beach mass shooting victim hires former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax as attorney
Former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has been hired to represent the husband of one of the victims of the 2019 Virginia Beach mass shooting.
Jason Nixon, whose wife Kate Nixon was among the 12 killed when a city employee went on a rampage at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center on May 31, 2019, hired Fairfax recently, several weeks after The Virginian-Pilot reported the state’s independent investigation into the shooting had stalled.
“I’m just trying to find justice in all this. Three-and-a-half years they’ve been working on this. The commission’s not doing anything. I want something done,” Nixon said. “We want accountability and transparency from the city of Virginia Beach, which we’ve asked for from day one.”
Nixon has been the most vocal of all the victims’ loved ones. Early on, he urged state lawmakers to begin an independent investigation.
Fairfax, reached by phone on Friday, said he is “exploring all the legal options” but that no lawsuit has been filed yet. He runs his own practice in Fairfax County and specializes in business and employment law, civil litigation, criminal legal defense, civil rights and social justice, according to his website.
“There’s been no transparency and there’s been no accountability for one of the worst episodes of injustice in Virginia history,” Fairfax said. “I can’t even imagine what these families have gone through. It is just heartbreaking.”
Fairfax said he reached out to Nixon after representing the family of Donovon Lynch, who was killed by a Virginia Beach police officer at the Oceanfront in March 2021, in a civil lawsuit against the city of Virginia Beach. The city agreed to a $3 million settlement last week.
“We were proud to have done that for the Lynch family who had waited so long for justice. And these families in the Virginia Beach mass shooting have waited even longer,” Fairfax said. “I’ve seen Virginia Beach elevate in a truly spectacular way to give justice to the Lynch family, and I believe they’re going to elevate again in another spectacular fashion to give justice to these 12 families.”
Fairfax served as Virginia lieutenant governor from 2018 until 2022.
State lawmakers created the Virginia Beach Mass Shooting Commission in 2020. The panel began with 21 members. But half of the commission has resigned in recent months amid concerns that it is failing to conduct a thorough investigation, though some reportedly left for personal reasons.
One commissioner said the panel had been “met with resistance both from the city and some commission members.”
In response to those concerns, Attorney General Jason Miyares, who as a state delegate pushed for the creation of the panel, wrote in a Dec. 14 letter he was “incredibly disappointed in the way that the Commission has conducted their investigation and review thus far.”
Daniel Berti, daniel.berti@virginiamedia.com
