DC doctor kills building manager over mould dispute, citing Luigi Mangione
Washington DC physician Matt Lambert shot dead his building manager and wounded four others in a row over a mould-ridden penthouse. He had previously referenced Luigi Mangione in messages about the dispute.
DC physician shoots building manager dead after mould feud, had referenced Luigi Mangione
A Washington DC doctor who fatally shot his building manager on Thursday had previously revealed he knew the victim's morning routine and had invoked the name of UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione, nypost.com reports.
Matt Lambert opened fire inside the ground-floor Vida Fitness gym of the luxury Metropole building in Logan Circle just after 8 a.m., killing building manager James Stuart. Lambert had told a fellow resident in an earlier conversation: "If you want to see the building manager, he comes in the gym about 8 o'clock."
Lambert, an emergency room doctor, had been locked in a prolonged dispute with the building's homeowners' association over black mould and water intrusion in his seventh-floor penthouse, valued at $1.1 million.
"There had been an ongoing dispute between the suspect in this case and the building homeowner's association regarding maintenance issues [and] mould," Metropolitan Police Department Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll confirmed at a press conference on Thursday.
In an interview with journalist Michael Brice-Saddler, then working for The Washington Post, Lambert described the mould battle as "psychological warfare." Brice-Saddler later published an account of that encounter in The Washington Sun.
During that same interview, conducted last December, Lambert referenced the three words inscribed on Mangione's bullets — used in the killing of Brian Thompson. "What are they called? Delay, deny, defend … the Luigi three?" Lambert said at the time.
Lambert had also invoked Mangione publicly on X. In an October post about the ongoing dispute with the homeowners' association, he wrote: "After months of 'Luigi' tactics (delay, deny, defend) by the HOA, we were finally able to submit an independent engineering report into the record."
Minutes before Thursday's attack, Lambert posted what authorities described as a manifesto on X, citing a report detailing suspected microbial growth, water intrusion, and a substantial bill to rehabilitate the walls of his apartment.
In addition to killing Stuart, Lambert shot and wounded four other people — two men and two women — from the balcony of his apartment. All four were taken to hospital.
After the shooting, Lambert barricaded himself in his penthouse. During an hour-long standoff with police, he continued to rail about "the HOA and challenges" with it, according to Carroll. Lambert then died by suicide inside the apartment.
In his December conversation with Brice-Saddler, Lambert described the toll of the mould dispute on his daily life. "It has affected every part of my life — my sleep, dietary habits," he said. "I pride myself on my resilience, and I've been kind of surprised at how much it has been affected."
Lambert had also cited Sun Tzu's The Art of War during that interview. "The battle's won before it's ever fought," he said. "If you're going to commit, don't half commit, fully commit."
He had filed a lawsuit against the homeowners' association over the mould and related problems the previous year. "They're trying to make me quit. They're trying to make me go broke," Lambert told Brice-Saddler. "If I come out of this and I don't get a satisfactory outcome, I won't have a bunch of money, but I can live with that better than rolling over. They don't have my permission to treat me this way."
The investigation is ongoing.
Source: The Sun