DC shooting victim was building manager known to suspected gunman, police say

The individual who was shot and killed in Washington, D.C.’s Logan Circle neighborhood Thursday morning has been identified as the building manager of the Metropole condominium complex with whom the gunman was involved in a dispute.Police said James Stuart, 46, was killed inside Vida Fitness after the gunman, Matt Lambert, 55, shot him and four others before barricading himself inside his penthouse unit, where he later died after shooting himself.The shooting appears to have stemmed from a dispute between Lambert and the homeowners association of the condominium building where he lived, according to D.C. officials. “We do know that there has been an ongoing dispute between the suspect in this case and the building, condo, homeowners association, management regarding maintenance issues — mold and the like — that there was a civil case that he filed against them. So, we believe that it’s related to that,” interim D.C. Chief of Police Jeff Carroll said.Lambert, a licensed emergency medicine doctor, purchased the one-bedroom penthouse unit in 2016 for approximately $1.1 million. Lambert lived in the unit, near the intersection of 15th and P streets NW, until 2024, at which point he claimed he had to move out due to the presence of black mold, according to a former Washington Post reporter who interviewed the individual last year.Lambert later filed a lawsuit against the Metropole condominium association in D.C. Superior Court in March 2025, alleging that work on the building’s facade caused water to leak into his penthouse apartment and resulted in more than $100,000 in damages. EJF Real Estate Services, the property management company, was also named in the lawsuit.According to the complaint, Lambert paid to have portions of his unit deconstructed and discovered what he described as black mold inside the walls. He alleged that the defendants denied the presence of mold and attempted to cover up the hole made to investigate his initial complaint.The condominium association rejected Lambert’s accusation, instead blaming the laundry dryers at Vida Fitness, which operates below the Metropole building, for contributing to excess moisture buildup in Lambert’s apartment. The HOA filed a third-party complaint against Vida Fitness.Lambert said in the court filings that he spent over $300,000 in remediation expenses, including work to seal leaks in his unit.An X account apparently connected to Lambert had repeatedly complained about the building’s mold problems and the lack of repairs to his unit. The account, which used the handle “OfMiceandMold,” posted what it described as a manifesto at 8:06 a.m. Thursday, shortly before the shooting.“My manifesto is an engineering report,” the account wrote, alongside screenshots of an engineering document detailing alleged water damage, mold, and unfinished repairs at the building.LOGAN CIRCLE SHOOTER IDENTIFIED: WHAT TO KNOWLambert’s attorney in the lawsuit, Joel Braithwaite, said he had spoken to his client days prior to the shooting, and Lambert didn’t show any signs that he would resort to violence.“I’m at a loss for how things took any sort of turn that would have us here today,” Braithwaite said.