A fatal shooting in Logan Circle left one man dead and four others wounded Thursday morning. That evening, PETA linked the violence to a planned foie gras dinner at nearby Mallard, calling on the restaurant to remove the dish. The post drew criticism and was later deleted.
“An active shooting has been down the block from Mallard restaurant in D.C., which is planning a foie gras dinner tonight,” PETA wrote, according to dc.citycast.fm. PETA later said it was urging Mallard to stop serving foie gras, not seeking to capitalize on the shooting. The New York Post reported that founder Ingrid Newkirk was at the scene and challenged the restaurant to show its neighbors the consideration PETA said it had denied ducks, according to the New York Post.
A Chaotic Morning Near Vida Fitness
The shooting unfolded Thursday morning in Logan Circle. Five people were shot, one fatally, according to the Washington Post, which identified the person killed as James Stuart, 46, a manager at the condo building where the violence began. The gunman later barricaded himself in his apartment and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the newspaper reported.
The New York Post reported that the shooter killed Stuart inside a Vida Fitness gym after a dispute over mold, then fired at four people from his apartment balcony before the standoff ended with his death in his penthouse. The Washington Post also reported that four other people were injured.
Backlash Builds, Then the Post Disappears
The post drew sharp criticism. Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich shared it with the caption “*picks up jaw off the floor*,” and chef José Andrés also criticized it on X, according to the New York Post. One user wrote, “my gosh, read the room. it's food. irrelevant to today's tragedy.”
PETA's post was taken down within a couple of hours, according to the same dc.citycast.fm report. The organization told the outlet that it had also canceled a protest scheduled that day in front of Mallard over its foie gras sales, saying the decision was made out of respect for the victims. PETA added that the shooting had happened in its neighborhood and affected its own neighbors, the report notes.
Asked about the deletion, PETA told the Washington Examiner that supporters of foie gras had misrepresented the post. The group separately said it believes people can care about more than one issue at a time and should respect all life, according to the New York Post.
Mallard's Dinner Stayed on the Calendar
The four-course foie gras dinner remained scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. that evening, the Washington Examiner reported. A Mallard receptionist confirmed to dc.citycast.fm that the event was still on. The Neighborhood Restaurant Group, Mallard’s co-owner, told the Examiner it had revised the event’s advertising language and contacted guests, but had not canceled the dinner.
The $125 dinner had drawn scrutiny before the shooting. Mallard revised its event flyer to remove the phrase “humanely-raised” from its description of the foie gras; the updated version appeared around 2 p.m. the prior Friday, according to a separate dc.citycast.fm report on the dinner.
The Ballot Measure Behind the Fight
The controversy followed D.C. voters’ approval of Initiative 86 just over a week earlier. The measure bans force-feeding birds and the sale, distribution or commercial importation of foie gras and related fattened-bird-liver products beginning July 1, 2027, according to WJLA. Businesses that violate the law could face fines of $1,000 to $5,000 and possible suspension or revocation of their business licenses, the station reported.
Pro-Animal D.C., an initiative of Pro-Animal Future, championed the measure and collected more than 10,000 pages of petition signatures to qualify it for the November ballot after earlier efforts through the D.C. Council. The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington opposed the ban, arguing that it could have broader implications for the District’s restaurant industry and that menu decisions should generally be left to businesses and customers, according to WJLA.
A Chicago Precedent
Chicago’s City Council repealed its two-year-old foie gras ban on May 14, 2008, by a vote of 37 to 6, the Chicago Tribune reported. The cited account does not specify the ban’s adoption date or the reasons officials gave for repealing it; Chicago’s experience does not determine the fate of D.C.’s measure.
