A 46-year-old property manager, gymgoer and Logan Circle resident is among the six people shot — and the only one killed — in Thursday morning’s deadly mass shooting, D.C. police said.
James Stuart was shot inside the VIDA Fitness gym on 15th Street NW.
Those who knew him called him Jimmy.
Stuart was a 15-year member of the gym, David von Storch, VIDA’s CEO and founder, told News4.
“[He was] loved by a lot of people, which makes the tragedy all the more heartbreaking,” he said.
Storch added that he was “heartbroken” for the victims, the staff inside the gym and the terrified community members. Other members of the gym who spoke with News4 said it’s a close-knit community, and news of the shooting quickly reverberated among members.
“Our sense of safety has been violated, and it’s been tough,” Storch said.
Stuart’s employer of 13 years also commented after his death.
“We are devastated. Jimmy was more than a colleague; he was part of the fabric of this company,” EJF Real Estate Services, said in a statement.
“Our hearts are with his family and everyone who loved him. We will honor Jimmy by caring for one another, friends and family.” said Scott Burka, president of EJF Real Estate Services.
Stuart joined EJF, a homeowners association management company, as a property manager. The company president denounced the shooting as a “senseless act of violence” and said employees are heartbroken by Stuart’s death.
“He was a respected and beloved member of our team,” the statement said.
Community members in Logan Circle are leaving flowers and notes outside the gym in a memorial that began Thursday and continues to grow Friday.
“You deserved better,” reads one note. “Rest in peace.”
“I’m left asking why. Goodbye, James,” reads another.
Stuart was involved in an ongoing dispute between the suspected gunman and his condo building management over the building’s condition, News4 learned from Joel Braithwaite, the suspect’s attorney in that litigation.
Stuart was the building manager, Interim Chief of Police Jeffery Carroll said.
EJF said it is cooperating with police and declined to comment on circumstances or details of the investigation.
Police said the suspected gunman, identified as Dr. Matt Lambert, shot Stuart inside the VIDA Fitness before fleeing back to his nearby condo. Lambert then opened fire from his seventh-floor condo’s patio, Carroll said, striking the five other injured victims.
The identities of the five injured victims have not been shared, but there were six total victims: three women and three men, including Stuart, struck.
Two of those victims are still in the hospital, Carroll said Friday.
One of those victims, a woman, was shot in the head. She was rushed to George Washington University Hospital. She remains in critical condition, but is stable, Carroll said.
A woman was shot in the arm and taken to Howard University Hospital, the source said. Two other people, both men working construction on Church Street, were taken to the same hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police did not specify which victim is the second person who remains hospitalized.
On Friday morning, D.C. police announced there was a fifth injured person, another woman. She had a non-life-threatening graze wound from a bullet, and did not go to the hospital.
Lambert barricaded himself in his condo after shooting Stuart and the other victims, leading to a tense standoff with police. He eventually shot and killed himself, Carroll said.
News4 sends breaking news stories by email. Go here to sign up to get breaking news alerts in your inbox.
