Police confirm sixth victim in Washington condo shooting

Police have confirmed a sixth person was shot in an attack at a Washington condominium building that left its manager dead and four others hospitalized. The newly identified victim, a woman, had a non-life-threatening graze wound and treated it herself, police said.

The gunman, identified as 55-year-old doctor Matt Wade Lambert, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after barricading himself in his apartment Thursday morning. Police believe the attack was linked to his long-running dispute with the building’s management over maintenance problems.

The shooting began just before 8 a.m. at a VIDA Fitness gym on the ground floor of the building in the capital’s Logan Circle neighborhood, about a mile north of the White House. Police said Lambert shot James Stuart, 46, a building manager, while Stuart was exercising. Stuart died at the scene.

Lambert then returned to his seventh-floor apartment and fired at people below from his patio, police said. Two women and two men were taken to a hospital, conscious and breathing. One of the wounded was in critical condition as of Thursday, The Guardian reported. Some of those shot had been working at a construction site across the street, according to Al Jazeera. Police have not detailed how the sixth victim was wounded.

The shootings took less than five minutes, interim police chief Jeffery Carroll said. Lambert then barricaded himself in his apartment and spoke with police negotiators by phone. According to Al Jazeera, police said he fired at least twice through the door while officers were outside, broke a gas line connected to his fireplace and started a fire. No officers were injured, and the building’s sprinkler system contained the fire.

“Most of the conversation was about the homeowners associations and challenges with that,” Carroll said. Negotiators heard a single gunshot, he said, and Lambert stopped talking. Tactical officers entered and found him dead. Police said they recovered a shotgun, a rifle and a handgun from the apartment and that all three had been used in the shooting.

Charelle Ferguson, another building manager, told The Washington Post that she spoke with Lambert by phone around 9 a.m. while checking on residents after the gunfire. She said he complained about mold and water damage in his apartment and told her, “The only way people will pay attention, you have to do something.” Ferguson said Lambert then told her he had shot five people. “I never thought he’d do something like this,” she said.

Court records reviewed by The Guardian show Lambert sued his condominium association in 2025, alleging it failed to address water damage, mold and moisture in his apartment after exterior work on the building. The association denied negligence and responsibility for the damage in court filings. The case remained ongoing.

Lambert’s lawyer in that case, Joel Braithwaite, said Thursday he was “deeply shocked.” He said Lambert sounded fine when they last spoke on Tuesday. “The person I knew as a client is someone who is in the business of healing people,” Braithwaite said.

Residents gathered for a candlelight vigil Thursday evening in support of those affected.