Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Nov 13: A former emergency room doctor who had spoken extensively about a prolonged dispute over his Washington apartment has been identified as the gunman in a shooting that killed a condominium building manager and injured four others on Thursday, according to The Washington Sun.
The accused, Matt Lambert, had earlier spoken to a reporter about his dwindling retirement savings, sleepless nights and deteriorating living conditions inside his penthouse apartment. However, the newspaper's account of those conversations has not established what prompted him to open fire.
Citing police, the Sun reported that Lambert shot dead building manager James Stuart at the fitness centre on the ground floor of the condominium building shortly before 8 am. He subsequently opened fire on four other people in the vicinity before returning to his apartment and taking his own life.
One of the injured persons was reported to be in critical condition, while the remaining three sustained injuries that were not life-threatening.
The account was written by Michael Brice-Saddler, who interviewed Lambert in November and December 2025 while working for The Washington Post. The reporter visited Lambert's stripped-down penthouse twice, but the planned article was abandoned after he was laid off early this year.
Brice-Saddler said Lambert had never indicated during their conversations that he might resort to violence.
"It's affected every part of my life — my sleep, dietary habits," Lambert told the reporter in December.
"I pride myself on my resilience, and I've been kind of surprised at how much it has been affected," he added.
Lambert had alleged that water leaks and mould following renovation work on the building's facade had made his apartment uninhabitable. He described a prolonged dispute with the condominium association, building manager Stuart and the property management company.
However, the newspaper acknowledged an important limitation in the account, stating that Brice-Saddler had not completed his reporting and had never presented Lambert's allegations to Stuart or the property management company, EJF, for their response. The Sun said it was unable to reach the company earlier on Thursday.
According to the report, Lambert filed a lawsuit against the condominium association in March 2025, alleging negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and nuisance. The association denied responsibility.
By December, Lambert claimed he had spent nearly $200,000 on legal and engineering expenses and had borrowed against his retirement savings to pursue the dispute. He described living in the stripped-down apartment with only a couch and a desk.
He had purchased the penthouse for $1.1 million in 2016 and wanted to sell it and relocate to New York, the report said.
Much of Lambert's attention appeared to be centred on the dispute. Brice-Saddler described a whiteboard on which he tracked his grievances, flyers distributed around the neighbourhood and open-house events where he showed residents his engineering reports.
The newspaper noted that these details were largely based on Lambert's own account and the reporter's visits, and did not independently establish the validity of his allegations against the building's management.
The shooting occurred in Washington's Logan Circle neighbourhood. Police initially advised residents to avoid the area around 15th and P streets Northwest before reporting a barricade situation in the 1500 block of 15th Street as emergency response teams attended the scene.
Lambert had worked as an emergency room doctor for two decades before moving into healthcare technology, according to the report. His subsequent career included medical information leadership positions with hospital systems in Seattle and New York.