The doctor accused of shooting his building manager at a luxury Washington, DC, condominium made a disturbing confession shortly afterward.
Dr. Matt Lambert, 55, fatally shot James Stuart, 46, in the back at Vida Fitness in Logan Circle at about 8am on Thursday. Four other people were injured.
Charelle Ferguson, a building manager at the Metropole condominiums, told the Washington Post that she heard the gunfire before seeing people flee in panic. One bystander shouted: ‘Somebody was shot in the head.’
Ferguson said she ushered frightened residents into her office and began calling people she knew who lived in the building, including Lambert. He answered at about 9am.
When Ferguson asked whether he was safe, she said Lambert told her he was frustrated by mold and water damage in his unit, which he claimed had made the apartment uninhabitable.
‘The only way people will pay attention, you have to do something,’ Ferguson recalled him saying.
Lambert then allegedly admitted that he had shot five people, including one of Ferguson’s co-workers.
‘I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,’ she said. ‘I tried to calm myself down and get as much information from him as I could while keeping him on the phone.’
Dr. Matt Lambert, 55, allegedly shot his building manager at a luxury Washington, DC, condominium on Thursday morning amid a long-running dispute over mold in his unit
James Stuart, 46, was shot in the back at Vida Fitness in Logan Circle at about 8am. Images Via: James Stuart/Facebook
Lambert had barricaded himself inside his penthouse apartment at 1515 15th Street, above the gym.
Police entered the building, where Lambert reportedly fired twice at officers through the apartment door.
Negotiators spent roughly an hour speaking with him through the door before hearing a gunshot.
Authorities later entered the apartment and found Lambert suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Lambert had reportedly been engaged in a lengthy dispute with the Metropole Condominium Association, which manages the luxury residential tower on 15th Street near Logan Circle.
In a lawsuit and in detailed posts on his Twitter account, he alleged that the association and its building contractors, EJF Real Estate Services, were responsible for $290,000 in water damage and the resulting mold during facade renovations.
Lambert’s final post, published at 8.06am while he was believed to be inside the apartment, stated: ‘My manifesto is an engineering report.’
The post included a screenshot from a CED Technologies report that appeared to support his allegations, along with what appeared to be a record of reported problems in the building.
Lambert barricaded himself inside an apartment after allegedly killing a man at a nearby gym and injuring four others
In another unsettling post, Lambert appeared to predict the attack on April 28 while responding to a resident’s complaint about a lack of hot water.
‘If you’re looking for the building manager, I would check the gym,’ he wrote.
The day before the shooting, Lambert claimed the dispute had left him without a shower, dryer, HVAC system or cooking facilities for six months.
In an interview in December with then-Washington Post reporter Michael Brice-Saddler, Lambert said the ongoing mold dispute had ‘affected every part of my life – my sleep, dietary habits.’
He also cited Sun Tzu’s Art of War, saying he experienced ‘every emotion every day’ because of the dispute.
‘Do I keep fighting? Do I not fight?’ he asked rhetorically. ‘And The Art of War talks about, you know, the battle’s won before it’s 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 black mold and other problems in his condominium.
‘They’re trying to make me quit,’ he told Brice-Saddler, who wrote about the interview for the Washington Sun. ‘They’re trying to make me go broke.’
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
