CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - Police say early indications are that the son of Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds stabbed his father before apparently shooting himself to death.
Authorities say 55-year-old Creigh Deeds - the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor in 2009 - is in fair condition at a hospital with stab wounds to the head and chest. He had been previously listed as critical.
Police say the politician's son, 24-year-old Gus Deed, was found dead early Tuesday at his father's house in rural western Virginia from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and that a gun was recovered.
Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corrine Geller told a news conference that while investigators are "leaning" toward an apparent attempted murder-suicide, no definitive finding has been reached. She says investigators are talking with the elder Deeds as their investigation continues.
Deeds lost to current Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell in 2009.