A deadly shooting in the heart of the nation's capital on Thursday morning has a painful connection to the Mountain State.
Police in Washington, D.C., have identified the man they say opened fire in the city's Logan Circle neighborhood as Matt Wade Lambert, 55, an emergency physician who was born and raised in Parkersburg.
What Police Say Happened
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the shooting began just before 8 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at a fitness center on the ground floor of the apartment building where Lambert lived, near 15th and P streets NW. One man, the building's 46-year-old manager, James Stuart, was killed inside the gym.
Police said the gunman then returned to his apartment and fired at people below from an upper-floor balcony, wounding four more people. Two men and two women were taken to the hospital, and police said one of them was seriously hurt.
Lambert barricaded himself inside his unit as negotiators tried to talk with him. Police said he also started a fire inside the apartment, which sprinklers helped contain. Negotiators heard a gunshot during the standoff, and officers who forced their way inside found Lambert dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators said they recovered a handgun, a shotgun and a rifle, and that all three were used in the attack.
A Long-Running Dispute
Investigators believe the shooting was connected to an ongoing dispute between Lambert and his condominium association over maintenance problems, including alleged water damage and mold in his unit. Court records show he had filed a lawsuit against the association in March 2025, and that case was still pending.
Police have not said whether Lambert knew the four people who were wounded. The full timeline remains under investigation.
The West Virginia Ties
Lambert grew up in Parkersburg. People who knew him there say he played football for the Big Reds and graduated from Parkersburg High School in 1989. His own online biography says he attended Marshall University and completed his medical residency at West Virginia University, and that he split his time between Washington and "the mountains of West Virginia."
News like this lands hard in a small state where so many of us are connected. Our thoughts are with James Stuart's family, the four people recovering from their wounds, and everyone in that neighborhood trying to make sense of a terrible morning.