Crime
Former Mercy Physician Fatally Shot by St. Louis County Police During Warrant Service in Fenton
Fenton, MO – A former physician at Mercy Health was shot and killed by St. Louis County police officers on Friday morning after an attempted arrest escalated into a fatal confrontation.
The deceased, identified as 38-year-old Aleksandr Lanis, was the subject of an arrest warrant for first-degree harassment.
Officers arrived at approximately 10 a.m. at a residence in the 1000 block of Hawkins Bend Drive to serve the warrant when the situation turned violent.
According to police, officers made contact with Lanis at the door of the home, where a verbal exchange ensued.
The encounter quickly escalated into a physical struggle when Lanis allegedly brandished a firearm.
In response, both officers discharged their weapons, striking and fatally wounding him. A firearm was recovered at the scene.
One of the officers sustained a non-gunfire-related hand injury during the altercation but was treated at the scene and did not require hospitalization.
The officers involved in the shooting have been identified as a 30-year-old with seven years of service and a 22-year-old who has been with the department for one year.
Neighbors in the area expressed shock following the incident. “We heard about 15 shots,” one resident recalled. “I didn’t even know he had weapons. He mostly kept to himself.”
Authorities confirmed that Lanis shared the home with a woman who was in the process of divorcing him.
She and their young child were not present at the time of the shooting.
Mercy Health acknowledged that Lanis had previously been employed as a physician but declined to disclose the timeframe of his tenure with the organization.
The investigation into the officer-involved shooting is ongoing.
Crime
46-year-old building manager James Stuart killed in shooting at VIDA Fitness gym in Washington Logan Circle neighborhood
Washington, D.C. police have released additional details about a deadly shooting near Logan Circle that left one person dead and four others injured.
Interim Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Jeffery Carroll confirmed that the victim killed in the incident was identified as 46-year-old James Stuart, a building manager from Northwest Washington, D.C.
According to police, the shooting began inside VIDA Fitness, where the suspect allegedly shot Stuart with a handgun. The gunman then returned to his nearby apartment, located on the seventh floor of a building, and opened fire with a rifle from his private balcony or patio, striking four people below near Church Street, 15th Street and a nearby alley.
Two women and two men were wounded in the street shooting. One victim remains in critical condition, while the other three are expected to survive.
MPD and federal law enforcement officers responded within minutes, possibly seconds, of the initial reports. Witnesses and nearby residents helped investigators quickly identify the suspect’s apartment, allowing officers to locate the source of the gunfire.
Police said the suspect fired through the apartment door at members of MPD’s Emergency Response Team on two separate occasions. He subsequently damaged a gas line, intentionally started a fire inside the apartment and turned the gun on himself. Officers later forced their way into the apartment and found him dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Authorities identified the suspect as 55-year-old Matt Wade Lambert, who lived in Northwest Washington, D.C.
Investigators recovered three firearms inside the apartment: a rifle, a shotgun and a handgun. Police believe the suspect used all three weapons during the incident, and preliminary findings indicate that at least some level of planning may have been involved.
According to information provided by police, the suspected motive may have been connected to an ongoing dispute between Lambert and his condominium homeowners association (HOA) management. The disagreement reportedly involved building maintenance and mold issues, along with a lawsuit Lambert had filed. During negotiations with police, much of the conversation reportedly centered on his dispute with the HOA.
Authorities also confirmed that Lambert did not have any firearms registered to him in Washington, D.C. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is investigating how and when he obtained the three weapons.
Police said they have not identified any known connection between Lambert and the four people shot outside the building.
The investigation remains ongoing as authorities work to establish the complete circumstances, timeline and motive behind the deadly shooting.