OMM Newsroom
A gunman in Washington shot and killed a building manager and wounded four other people. Police said the suspect later barricaded himself in his apartment and killed himself after a standoff with officers.
Police identified the suspect as 55-year-old physician Matt Lambert, AnewZ reported. He had been involved in a long-running dispute with the condominium association over mold and dampness in his apartment.
“We believe this was related to that issue,” interim Police Chief JW Carroll said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
The victim was identified as James Stuart, the building’s 46-year-old manager. Police believe he was deliberately targeted.
The attack began shortly before 8 a.m. local time at a gym in the Logan Circle neighborhood, about 1.6 kilometers northeast of the White House. Police said Lambert first shot Stuart with a handgun, then returned to his apartment on the building’s seventh floor.
He later fired a rifle from a balcony, wounding four people. One of the injured was in critical condition; the other three had injuries that were not life-threatening.
Carroll said the first officers arrived at the scene within 30 seconds of the initial call. Lambert fired through his apartment door at officers in the hallway and started a fire.
Standoff with police ends inside apartment
Police negotiators contacted Lambert by phone. After a gunshot was heard, officers entered the apartment and found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Three guns and gasoline were found inside.
The standoff brought traffic to a halt in the normally busy neighborhood. Numerous heavily equipped police officers and dozens of ambulances responded, streets were closed, and police marksmen with rifles took positions on rooftops.
Legal dispute over mold in apartment
A man who identified himself as a witness to the shooting said he heard gunshots and saw someone run to a person who appeared to be injured.
“Blood started flowing immediately, and he said, ‘He’s dead.’ We didn’t know whether the shooter was still in the building, so we ran in a panic,” the witness said.
The witness also said he heard more gunshots after leaving the gym.
Lambert filed his first lawsuit against the condominium association in 2025, saying water damage and mold had made his apartment uninhabitable. Court documents said he had spent about $300,000 on repairs.
The association denied the allegations and filed a counterclaim against the gym on the building’s first floor, suggesting that commercial dryers were the source of the problem. The court case was still ongoing at the time of the shooting.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser praised the police response and called the incident “a senseless act of gun violence.” She said the White House had been informed about the incident.
