Son 'Austin 'GusDeedsstabs Senator R. Creigh Deeds, kills himself'

A US state senator and former gubeatorial candidate was stabbed in his head and chest at his home where his son was found dead from a gunshot wound.

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller wouldn't say who stabbed Virginia state Senator R. Creigh Deeds or how his son was shot, but she did say authorities were not looking for any suspects.

Virginia police say Senator Deeds was able to walk away from the house and was picked up by a cousin who was driving by.  Once at his cousin's place 911 was called

The Democratic senator, who has also run for attoey general, was in critical condition at a hospital.

Authorities received a 911 call on Tuesday moing and responded to the senator's home in in rural Bath County, which is in weste Virginia on the border with West Virginia, police said.

They found the 55-year-old senator there with multiple stab wounds. Senator Deeds' 24-year-old son, Gus, was also found there at the home, suffering from a gunshot wound.  Despite efforts by state troopers and first responders, he died there.

Ms Geller said they were still trying to figure out motive and the sequence of events.

Senator Creigh Deeds pictured with his family including son, Gus.

"It's a very complex investigation," Ms Geller said. She said police have been able to talk with the senator, but she wouldn't reveal what he said. She also did not say who made the 911 call.

Senator Deeds has been in the state Senate since 2001. He also ran for attoey general and goveor, losing both times to current Goveor Bob McDonnell.

Senator Deeds, a former Bath County prosecutor, was elected to the House of Delegates in 1991 and to the state Senate in 2001, in a special election after the death of Emily Couric. He ran for attoey general in 2005, but lost to Goveor McDonnell, a Republican. The margin of victory was fewer than 400 votes out of nearly 2 million cast.

Senator Deeds and Goveor McDonnell squared off again in 2009 in the race for goveor after Senator Deeds defeated Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran in the Democratic Party. But Senator Deeds lost badly that time. Goveor McAuliffe was elected goveor earlier this month.

Goveor McDonnell said in a statement the news was "utterly heartbreaking."

"Creigh Deeds is an exceptional and committed public servant who has always done what he believes is best for Virginia and who gives his all to public service," Goveor McDonnell said in the statement.

The Deeds family: from left, Gus, Rebecca, Susannah, Creigh and Pam. Not shown: Amanda. (Deeds campaign)

Gov.-elect McAuliffe called it a sad day for Virginia and the many people who know Creigh.

"We join people across the Commonwealth and country in wishing him a full recovery," he said.

Gus Deeds is one of the senator's four adult children. He had been enrolled at the College of William and Mary off and on since 2007, and withdrew last month, school spokesman Brian Whitson said.  The college said he had a strong academic record.  It did not say why he left.

During Senator Deeds' bid for goveor, his son took off a semester to join his dad on the campaign trail.

"He needs me and I need him,'' Deeds told a reporter in the fall of 2009, about campaigning with Gus.

"I've got to go through this campaign process but that doesn't mean I've got to be completely separated from my family the whole time,'' he said.

Creigh Deeds and new wife Siobhan Lomax.

Viriginia state politician David Toscano, whose district overlaps with Deeds's, said in a statement "Senator Deeds was very close to his son, Gus, and has taken herculean efforts to help him over the years. Our thoughts and prayers are with Creigh and the family at this difficult time."

Senator Deeds, who drafted a constitutional amendment guaranteeing Virginians' right to hunt, long enjoyed support from the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights advocates.

Senator Deeds and his wife, Pam, divorced shortly after the 2009 campaign. Senator Deeds remarried last year.  He met new wife Siobhan Lomax when he was teaching law at Washington and Lee University.

Senator Deeds spent most of his childhood in Bath County, where his family settled in the 1740s. The rural county is known for the high-end Homestead resort, but Senator Deeds grew up on the other side of the mountain.

"I didn't grow up on the end of the county where you lea to ski and play golf as a child," he said. Senator Deeds lived on a farm after his parents divorced when he was about 7.

His grandfather was the Democratic Party chairman in Bath County during the Great Depression.