DC shooting suspect a Parkersburg High graduate
Published reports say Lambert had been a local emergency room physician
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WASHINGTON (AP) – A doctor who shot five people and then himself Thursday in the nation’s capital was a 1989 graduate of Parkersburg High School.
Matt Lambert, 55, fatally shot himself while holed up in his apartment, where he had been speaking by phone with police negotiators, said Jeffery Carroll, interim chief with the Metropolitan Police Department.
Multiple individuals who declined to speak on the record Thursday confirmed Lambert was a graduate of Parkersburg High School. He was a member of the class of 1989, according to that year’s PHS yearbook.
It was not immediately clear Thursday when Lambert last lived in the area. A bio on his business website, mlem.biz, says he “splits his time between the mountains of West Virginia and the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.,” which is where the shooting occurred. It lists him as a chemistry major at Marshall University before moving on to medical school there. He graduated from medical school in 1997 and completed his emergency medicine residency at West Virginia University from 1997 to 2000.
According to published reports, Lambert was a board-certified emergency medicine physician who was at one time affiliated with Davis Medical Center in Elkins.
Parkersburg Police Chief Matthew Board said Thursday evening that his office had not been contacted at this time by any authorities investigating the incident.
Lambert had reportedly been in a long-running dispute over the conditions of his penthouse condo when he gunned down the building manager in a busy gym before fleeing and shooting four more people from his patio before ultimately taking his own life.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said she was "devastated" at the loss of life in a "senseless act of gun violence."
The shootings occurred around 8 a.m. in Logan Circle, about a mile north of the White House. Much of the block on 15th Street Northwest was cordoned off as police urged people to avoid the area, which includes a VIDA Fitness center, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, residences and a Whole Foods store. Schools were locked down.
Chaos in less than 5 minutes
Law enforcement SWAT teams and other officers had their guns drawn on the roof of a building and on the ground below. Carroll said Lambert, armed with three guns, shot four people from his condo patio; one remained in critical condition by late afternoon.
"This whole incident took place in less than five minutes. ... I can only imagine being in that area and hearing the gunshots or being inside the gym," he said.
The man killed at VIDA gym on the ground floor was identified as James Stuart, 46, the building manager, the police chief said.
"There has been an ongoing dispute between the suspect in this case" and management "regarding maintenance issues, mold and the like. We believe it's related to that," Carroll said.
Lambert had filed a lawsuit, alleging that he hadn't been able to enjoy his penthouse since 2024 because of mold, moisture and water problems, records show. He claimed the problems began after a contractor had worked on the building's exterior.
The litigation was ongoing, according to court filings. Lambert appeared to share his condo woes, including photos and an engineering report, on an X site titled OfMiceandMold. The report was described online as "my manifesto."
Speaking to reporters, Lambert's lawyer, Joel Braithwaite, said he was "deeply shaken and saddened" by the violence. He said the condo resembled a "war zone" because of its conditions and said Lambert had spent more than $300,000 in pressing the lawsuit.
"I don't think there's any sense to be made," Braithwaite said of the shootings. "I can't give you that closure."
Gym members scrambled when they heard shots
James Spellman, who was at the gym, said there were about 50 people there when the shootings began.
"Within seconds there was a man who fell to the ground, and a pool of blood came out," he said. "One gym member rushed to help him. He was instantly dead. He had been shot in the neck."
Anthony Mirones was in the gym's cardio area when he heard a loud bang and thought something fell off the wall. He said someone was trying to help the wounded man but then a fire alarm went off and many people ran.
"The people in cardio had to step over the body," Mirones said.
Another witness, Ryan Dubicki, said he was in his nearby apartment around the same time when he "heard about five bangs."
"They were really spread out so I thought it was construction," said Dubicki, an AP employee on the elections team. A short time later "there were cops everywhere."
While inside his condo, Lambert also cut a natural gas line to the fireplace and started a fire, triggering the sprinkler system, which contained the flames, Carroll said.
The Washington Sun posted an online story by Michael Brice-Saddler, who said he had interviewed Lambert last year about his condo problems. Lambert had told another resident that he knew Stuart's morning routine at the VIDA gym.
"If you want to see the building manager," Brice-Saddler quoted Lambert as saying, "he comes in the gym about 8 o'clock."