The doctor accused of shooting his condominium building manager at a luxury Washington, DC, residence made a disturbing admission shortly after the attack.
Dr. Matt Lambert, 55, allegedly killed James Stuart, 46, at Vida Fitness in Logan Circle at about 8 a.m. Thursday. Four other people were injured in the violence.
Charelle Ferguson, a manager at the Metropole condominiums, told The Washington Post that she heard the gunfire before seeing people flee in panic. One witness shouted that someone had been shot in the head.
Ferguson said she brought frightened residents into her office and began calling people who lived in the building, including Lambert. He answered at around 9 a.m.
When Ferguson asked if he was safe, Lambert allegedly told her he was fed up with mold and water damage in his unit, which he believed had made the apartment uninhabitable.
“The only way people will pay attention, you have to do something,” Ferguson recalled him saying.
Lambert then allegedly told her he had shot five people, including Stuart, one of her colleagues.
“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Ferguson said. “I tried to calm myself down, get as much information as possible and keep him on the phone.”
Dr. Matt Lambert, 55, allegedly shot his building manager at a luxury Washington, DC, condominium amid a prolonged dispute over mold and water damage
James Stuart, 46, was shot in the back at Vida Fitness in Logan Circle at about 8 a.m. Images via James Stuart/Facebook
Lambert had barricaded himself inside his penthouse apartment at 1515 15th Street, directly above the gym.
During the standoff, he activated the sprinkler system, started a fire and spoke by phone with a neighbor, another property manager and police negotiators about his dispute with the condominium.
He also allegedly fired from his balcony at four people on the ground before turning the weapon on himself.
Police said at least one victim remained in critical condition, while the other three suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.
Officers eventually entered the building. Lambert reportedly fired twice at police through the apartment door.
Negotiators spent roughly an hour speaking with him from outside the unit before hearing a gunshot.
Authorities then entered and found Lambert suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Investigators also recovered three firearms—a pistol, a shotgun and a rifle. None was registered to Lambert.
The shooting followed a bitter, long-running dispute between Lambert and the Metropole Condominium Association, which manages the luxury high-rise.
Lambert barricaded himself inside an apartment after allegedly killing a man at a nearby gym and injuring four others
Local and federal law enforcement officers responded to the scene Thursday
The shooting took place less than a mile from the White House
In a lawsuit and in a series of detailed posts on X, Lambert claimed the Metropole and its building contractor, EJF Real Estate Services, were responsible for $290,000 in water damage and mold linked to facade renovations.
At 8:06 a.m., while he was believed to be inside the apartment, Lambert posted: “My manifesto is an engineering report.”
The post included part of a report from CED Technologies that appeared to support his allegations, along with what seemed to be a log of reported building problems.
The day before the shooting, Lambert said on social media that the dispute had left him without a shower, dryer, HVAC system or cooking facilities for six months.
In another ominous post on April 28, responding to a resident’s complaint about a lack of hot water, Lambert wrote: “If you’re looking for the building manager, I would check the gym.”
The interior of Lambert’s apartment in November 2024, when walls and floors were removed to investigate reported water damage and mold
Lambert posted this November 2024 photograph showing walls being dismantled inside his apartment
In an interview last December with then-Washington Post reporter Michael Brice-Saddler, Lambert said the mold dispute had affected every aspect of his life, including his sleep and eating habits.
He cited Sun Tzu’s The Art of War while describing the emotional toll of the conflict.
“Do I keep fighting? Do I not fight?” he asked. “The Art of War talks about the battle being won before it is ever fought. It says if you’re going to commit, don’t half commit—fully commit.”
The interview took place as Lambert pursued a lawsuit against the homeowners association over alleged black mold and other problems at his condominium.
“They’re trying to make me quit,” he told Brice-Saddler, who wrote about the conversation for the Washington Sun. “They’re trying to make me go broke.”
Police gathered outside the VIDA Fitness gym, where Stuart was killed
National Guard members were seen on a balcony of a nearby building across from the location where the suspect was barricaded
The area around the Logan Circle condominium was cordoned off after the shooting
Lambert filed his lawsuit in March 2025, alleging that “suspected water intrusion, mold, significant moisture accumulation, and/or related damage” resulted directly from facade work that began in March 2023.
He maintained that the apartment had not previously experienced significant water intrusion, mold, mold odors, moisture buildup or similar damage.
Metropole and EJF Real Estate Services denied responsibility. They argued that third parties outside their control caused the damage and claimed Lambert should have taken additional steps to prevent it.
According to the lawsuit, Lambert paid Metropole $15,357 toward the facade project as a condominium owner. He said he began noticing damage in March 2024.
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He reported the first instance of water entering the unit after Metropole had asked residents to report problems connected to the construction.
Lambert said the association did not cut into the drywall to determine whether water was trapped behind the wall until August 2024.
By the following month, the electric blind beneath the opening had stopped working, while a foul-smelling mold had appeared nearby.
Armed US Marshals officers responded to the shooting scene
A police officer spoke with residents and witnesses at the scene
The lawsuit alleged that Metropole rejected the claim that mold was present and attempted to close the opening without addressing Lambert’s concerns.
Lambert said two independent inspections later found that substantial moisture continued to collect in several parts of the apartment, including the concrete ceiling, soffit, baseboards, windowsills and exterior walls.
He formally asked Metropole to complete repairs recommended by the inspectors and reimburse him for related expenses.
Despite what he described as extensive photographic evidence, the lawsuit claimed the association did not fulfill those requests.
“[Metropole’s] work caused a moisture-saturated ceiling, mold-covered exterior walls, moisture-saturated floorboards beneath the windows and corrosion on metal surfaces beneath the drywall,” the lawsuit alleged.
Bullet holes were visible in the condominium building after the shooting
Police escorted witnesses and residents back into the building after the attack
Metropole wrote to Lambert on October 21, 2024, saying it would work with him to resolve the complaints. Lambert claimed the promised cooperation never materialized.
On November 11, he said he hired a contractor to remove walls affected by moisture and floors he described as rotted.
He alleged that the work exposed additional black mold and leaking pipes that were worsening the damage.
The lawsuit said Metropole repeatedly promised to address the problems but had not done so by the time the case was filed.
“[Lambert’s] unit remains deconstructed, torn down to the metal frame, which bears signs of water intrusion and elevated moisture,” the lawsuit stated.
Lambert left the apartment when the demolition began and said he could not move back in. Rebuilding the unit, he argued, would only encourage further mold growth unless the underlying issues were resolved.
Black mold reportedly found inside Lambert’s apartment
Lambert posted this photograph of water damage elsewhere in the condominium building on Twitter
The legal dispute continued for roughly a year and a half. During that time, Lambert documented what he described as building defects and the slow pace of the facade renovation.
His posts showed mold, corroded metal, cockroaches and other pests, water entering the walls and notices from management about interruptions to utilities.
He also accused the association of discriminating against him, claiming repairs were made in other units with similar problems while his apartment was left unaddressed.
On October 1, he posted another update about the lawsuit.
“After months of ‘Luigi’ tactics—delay, deny, defend—by the HOA, we were finally able to submit an independent engineering report into the record,” he wrote, referencing the Luigi Mangione murder case.
He said the report covered unit 704, the broader facade rehabilitation project and other affected apartments. Lambert added that he would release it on X, share it with other Metropole owners and provide it to Logan Circle realtors when the time was right.
Authorities continued investigating the shooting
Lambert made the report public only after the shooting, posting it as he allegedly barricaded himself inside the apartment he had described as uninhabitable.
Officials have confirmed that Lambert had been involved in a dispute with the building’s homeowners association.
“We do know there was a conflict between him and the homeowners association of that building, but at this point we’re continuing to look into that,” Metropolitan Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said at a news conference.
The attack came more than two years after Lambert moved out so contractors could strip the walls and floors from his unit.
Even Lambert’s attorney, Joel Braithwaite, said he did not know what prompted the alleged shooting spree while the lawsuit remained active.
Braithwaite said Lambert appeared to be “in a good place” when they spoke a day or so before the shooting. He also said the case had reached a successful deposition the previous week.
EJF Real Estate Services President Scott Burka described Stuart as a “respected and beloved member of our team”
Lambert earned his medical degree from Marshall University and trained in emergency medicine before holding several chief medical officer positions in the private sector.
He also served as chief medical information officer for New York City Health and Hospitals and was scheduled to begin a new job the following week.
As investigators seek to establish what led the doctor to open fire, EJF Real Estate Services said it was devastated by Stuart’s death and condemned the attack as a senseless act of violence.
“Jimmy was more than a colleague; he was part of the fabric of this company,” President Scott Burka said. Stuart had joined the firm 13 years earlier as a property manager.
“He was a respected and beloved member of our team,” Burka said. “Our hearts are with his family and everyone who loved him. We will honor Jimmy by caring for one another, our friends and our families.”
Burka added that the company was cooperating with investigators.
