A Washington DC apartment manager was shot dead on Thursday when an emergency room doctor opened fire inside a neighborhood fitness center before taking his own life following a police standoff, according to detikNews.
The violence unfolded shortly before 8:00 a.m. at VIDA Fitness, located on the ground floor of a condominium complex in Logan Circle, as reported by CNBC Indonesia. Police identified the dead manager as 46-year-old James Stuart and the gunman as 55-year-old Matt Wade Lambert, an emergency room physician who lived in the building.
Investigators said Lambert shot Stuart with a pistol inside the gym before retreating to his seventh-floor apartment, where he barricaded himself and used a rifle to fire down from his balcony. Four other people suffered injuries in the barrage, leaving one victim in critical condition while three others sustained non-life-threatening wounds, Liputan6.com reported.
Interim Metropolitan Police Department Chief Jeffery Carroll told reporters that the entire active portion of the assault lasted less than five minutes. Officers ultimately breached the apartment after negotiations failed and found Lambert dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, alongside three firearms and containers of gasoline.
Police and legal documents indicate the shooting stemmed from a prolonged legal and maintenance dispute between Lambert and the building’s condominium association. Court filings show the physician sued the association in 2025 over persistent water leaks and mold damage in his penthouse unit, claiming the conditions rendered it uninhabitable after he spent roughly $300,000 on repairs, according to CNBC Indonesia.
The condominium association contested those claims and filed a cross-claim against the gym operators, arguing that commercial drying equipment in the fitness center caused the humidity issues. Liputan6.com said that Lambert had documented his frustrations online through an X account under the handle OfMiceandMold, sharing technical reports and photographs of the damage.
“There has been a longstanding dispute between the suspect in this case and the management regarding building maintenance, mold, and issues of that nature,” Carroll said, as quoted by Liputan6.com. “We suspect the shooting is related to that dispute.”
Joel Braithwaite, an attorney representing Lambert, told reporters that the physician’s apartment had deteriorated into a war zone because of the unresolved property damage. “I don’t think there’s any rational explanation,” Braithwaite said, as reported by Liputan6.com. “I can’t provide an answer that can put a period on that question.”
Officers launched a breach after negotiations stalled and the suspect set fire to the interior of his seventh-floor unit using flammable liquids, according to CNBC Indonesia. Police found Lambert dead inside from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after extinguishing the flames.
Interim Police Chief Carroll confirmed that emergency responders transported four victims—two women and two men—to local hospitals. Liputan6.com reported that one victim remained in critical condition while three others recovered from injuries that did not threaten their lives.
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