Sixth victim identified in Washington DC condo dispute shooting
Police in Washington DC confirmed a sixth person was shot in an attack linked to a maintenance dispute, leaving one person dead and five others wounded.
By Ricardo Brooks ·
Washington DC police announced on Thursday that a sixth individual was shot during a violent incident at a condominium building, raising the total number of victims to six. The attack, which investigators believe was motivated by a dispute over building maintenance, resulted in one death and five injuries.
In a statement released by the Metropolitan Police Department, officials noted that the newly identified victim is a woman who was found conscious and breathing. She sustained a non-life-threatening graze wound from a gunshot and reported that she had self-treated the injury. Previously, officers had located five other victims at the scene.
Among the injured, two women and two men were transported to a hospital, all of whom remained conscious and breathing. The sole fatality was James Stuart, a 46-year-old building manager. Stuart died at the scene after being targeted by the suspect, a 55-year-old physician named Matt Wade Lambert, while Stuart was exercising in the building's gym.
The shooting began just before 8:00 a.m. local time at a VIDA Fitness gym located in the Logan Circle neighborhood, approximately one mile north of the White House. Police reported that Lambert shot Stuart inside the ground-floor gym before retreating to his apartment on the seventh floor. From his patio, the suspect fired at people below, injuring five others, some of whom were working at a construction site across the street.
Interim police chief Jeffery Carroll stated that the entire shooting sequence occurred in less than five minutes. After the initial volley, Lambert barricaded himself inside his apartment and engaged with police negotiators via telephone. During this standoff, the suspect fired at least twice through the door, though no officers were injured. He also broke a gas line connected to his fireplace, sparking a fire that was contained by the building's sprinkler system.
Chief Carroll explained that the majority of the conversation between Lambert and the negotiators focused on the ongoing conflict with the building's management. The chief noted that while the suspect was speaking, a single gunshot was heard, after which Lambert stopped communicating. When tactical units breached the apartment, they found the doctor dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Investigators recovered a shotgun, a rifle, and a handgun inside the apartment, all of which had been used in the attack. Court records cited by The Associated Press indicate that Lambert had filed a lawsuit claiming he could not enjoy his penthouse since 2024 due to mold, moisture, and water issues that arose after exterior work on the building.
The legal dispute was active at the time of the shooting. Lambert had shared details of the conflict, including photographs and an engineering report, on an X account named ofMiceandMold. His attorney, Joel Braithwaite, told reporters on Thursday that the condo, which Lambert had occupied since 2017, appeared like a warzone. Braithwaite added that Lambert had spent more than $300,000 on the ongoing lawsuit.
