The 20 Questions That Can Prevent Domestic Violence Homicide

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The 20 Questions That Can Prevent Domestic Violence Homicide

April 24, 2026,

11:10 a.m. ET

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Illustration by Sam Whitney/The New York Times

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By

Rachel Louise Snyder

Ms. Snyder is a contributing Opinion writer.

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On April 16th, Dr. Cerina Fairfax was shot and killed by her husband, the former lieutenant governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, who then fatally shot himself, according to the police. Three days later, the police say, a man in Louisiana named Shamar Elkins shot and killed eight children — seven of them his own — and critically injured his wife and a second woman, with whom he shared three children. At least one of these men had threatened suicide before the killings and both obtained access to guns; both wives wanted to end their marriages and separation was imminent. Sadly, both tragedies may well have been prevented.

Mr. Fairfax was ordered by a judge to vacate the family home by the end of the month. After losing his bid for governor in 2021 and leaving public office in 2022, he struggled with underemployment and alcoholism. In recent years, he’d become increasingly isolated. In court documents, Dr. Fairfax said her husband was spending extended time alone in his room and littering the home with dirty laundry and empty wine bottles.

As details in an unraveling life, they may be typical, but taken together, along with what else we know — that Mr. Fairfax bought a gun in 2022, that he had problems with alcohol and was ordered to take breathalyzer tests before visiting his kids and that a final separation was near — they are markers of escalating dangerousness.

Less is known about Mr. Elkins. He was a National Guard veteran who had a felony weapons conviction that most likely barred him from possessing a gun, and family members say he had

struggled with his mental health

. “Some people don’t come back from their demons,” his stepfather said Mr. Elkins told him in recent days. He also told his mother and stepfather that his wife wanted a divorce.

For domestic violence experts, all of these details would have been flashing warning signs. The domestic-violence field has developed a 20-question survey called a

Danger Assessment

that can help predict and ultimately prevent domestic violence homicide. Included among the markers are former acts of domestic violence; threats of suicide, homicide or harm to children; access to a gun; strangulation or choking; forced sex; stalking; and habitual use of drugs and alcoholism. The survey also prompts respondents to create a timeline of abuse to assess escalation. Though training is required to determine scores since the questions are weighted, the Danger Assessment would at least offer the nonexpert an immediate snapshot of potential lethality.

The Danger Assessment was created in 1986 by a nurse and graduate student, Jacquelyn Campbell, who is now a nursing professor at Johns Hopkins University and a leading researcher on domestic violence. Early on, it was used in emergency rooms and doctors’ offices. But around 2005, a Massachusetts-based domestic violence agency called the Geiger Institute (on whose board I serve) adapted the Danger Assessment for what it named “high-risk teams.” The institute collaborated with Professor Campbell to rework the Danger Assessment for a variety of contexts, creating a model to bring together teams of advocates for victims of domestic violence, law enforcement and other community stakeholders.

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