Family of man slain at DC apartment files $25M lawsuit against owner, manager

Dive Brief:

The family of Kristian Stewart, a 21-year-old from Concord, North Carolina, who was fatally shot outside a Washington, D.C., apartment complex, has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the owner and manager, CIH Properties, alleging that it had not provided adequate security.
According to Stewart’s family and their attorney, he was visiting The Gardens in Washington’s Congress Heights neighborhood on March 23, 2023, when he tried to break up a fistfight outside the building. Stewart was tackled to the ground, and a bystander began shooting a firearm, striking him twice.
The suit, filed last month, alleges that security cameras focused on the yard where the incident occurred were not in operation, and that a security guard contracted by the property stood by watching the incident as it occurred, failing to intervene or call 911.

Dive Insight:

In the last five years, Washington crime statistics recorded 155 violent incidents within 1,000 feet of The Gardens, including 15 homicides, nine sex abuses, 77 assaults with a dangerous weapon and 54 robberies, according to the suit.

“Despite the high rate of criminal activity and shootings occurring at and near The Gardens, and defendants’ actual or constructive knowledge of such, defendants failed to make the reasonable and necessary security improvements to The Gardens prior to the shooting,” the suit reads, “such as installing more security cameras or adding more security guards.”

The suit claims the defendant had a responsibility to preserve the safety of visitors, to anticipate and take steps to prevent criminal activity on the property and to hire and train competent security staff. The complaint was filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and an initial hearing is scheduled for May 24.

The fight at The Gardens that led to Stewart’s death involved an estimated 20 people, most of whom are believed to be juveniles. No arrests have been made and the case remains open, according to The Washington Post.

CIH Properties is a Greenbelt, Maryland-based owner and developer specializing in affordable multifamily. It currently owns and operates about 3,000 units across over 20 properties in the Washington, D.C. metro area, according to the company website. Also named in the suit is Wingate Properties, a real estate LLC that shares an address with CIH Properties and is not affiliated with Newton, Massachusetts-based multifamily firm Wingate Cos. CIH did not respond to a request for comment.

Originally built in 1965, The Gardens contains 329 units across a four-story building, ranging from studios to four-bedroom apartments, according to a listing on Apartments.com. The property is advertised as gated.