On Thursday, November 12, an armed man opened fire inside VIDA Fitness gym, located on the ground floor of Metropole Apartments on the 1500 block of 15th Street, Northwest, in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
One individual lost their life, another was critically injured, and three others were wounded in the incident that the city’s mayor-elect, Janeese Lewis George, has described as an “unthinkable tragedy.”
Highlights
- A man opened fire at a gym in a Washington, D.C., apartment on Thursday, taking one life and injuring four.
- Police have now identified the attacker as a man who was embroiled in a conflict with the homeowners' association.
- The man's past social media posts and legal battle have led users to believe he may have suffered from "psychosis."
Metropolitan Police Chief Jeffery Carroll has now identified the attacker in a press conference and revealed that there was a “conflict between him and the homeowners association (HOA) of that building,” which the authorities suspect led to the tragedy.
“It’s just so sad and so senseless to k*ll someone over a dispute that should be worked out reasonably,” said local resident and Ward 2 council member Brooke Pinto.
The suspect was identified as a doctor living in the apartment
The police have identified Dr. Matt Lambert, a board-certified emergency physician and a medical technology expert, as the assailant in Thursday’s incident.
After firing at five individuals at the gym on Thursday morning and reportedly taking the life of his building manager, the doctor barricaded himself in his $1.1 million penthouse on the seventh floor (Unit 704).
Law enforcement officers tried to coax him out for nearly an hour when they heard a firearm go off. Upon entering the apartment, they found him deceased at the scene. He reportedly set a small portion of the building on fire before that.
Lambert’s official website says he graduated with a Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 1997 from Marshall University, completed his EM Residency in 2000 at West Virginia University, served as chief medical officer at multiple organizations, and founded MLEM, a healthcare and technology consultancy.
He is also a published author, a musician, and a philanthropist who volunteered medical expertise in Kenya, Belize, and Haiti.
He split his time between West Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Lambert sued the HOA over mold issues and made eerie posts about it
Lambert sued Metropole Condominium Association in March 2025, alleging that repairs conducted in the building led to mold festering in his home.
“Two years of living in luxury (and the start of 6 months with no shower, dryer, HVAC, and cooking),” a social media account linked to Lambert posted the day before the incident, along with pictures showing renovations.
Lambert's last post, shared at 8:06 a.m. while he was believed to be hiding from the cops inside his apartment, read, “My manifesto is an engineering report.”
Attached was a screenshot of part of a report by CED Technologies on reported building issues that agreed with his claims.
An April 28 post made an eerie “foreshadowing” of his future crimes.
“If you're looking for the building manager, I would check the gym,” the post read.
Netizens suspect “psychosis” as eyewitnesses share their accounts
One of Lambert’s neighbors told CBS that the doctor was “very disgruntled” with the building’s issues and upset with management for not taking “sufficient action” on the water and mold problem.
“He invited everybody to his unit to see the damage,” Jonathan Csapo told the outlet. “He wanted people to know what was happening. He wanted more attention, and he was getting increasingly frustrated that people weren’t listening to him.”
James Spellman, who was at the gym with about 50 other people when the incident happened, told the Associated Press, “Within seconds, there was a man who fell to the ground, and a pool of blood came out. One gym member rushed to help him. He was instantly d**d. He had been s**t in the neck.”
Anthony Mirones, another gym member, remembered everyone being "confused" as a woman tried to give first aid to the deceased individual, but in vain.
“Everyone evacuates, so we all evacuate eventually,” Mirones said. “The thing is, people who are in the cardio area kind of have to step over the body to exit.”
A few netizens speculated that the mold Lambert talked about could have caused severe psychological issues and eventually triggered a breakdown.
“Prolonged mold exposure *can* cause mental health issues, including psychosis,” one person said. Another wrote, “Mold can cause hallucinations and mental disorders.”
"Mold can have extreme mental health effects," one user said
