WASHINGTON — A D.C. man is suing a luxury realty company for $7.5 million in a racial discrimination lawsuit, after he claims he was kicked out of his apartment building for being shot.
Patrick Oseni has filed a lawsuit against United Dominion Realty (UDR), which owns Capitol View on 14th, alleging that the locks on his apartment were changed and his access to the building was disabled after an incident in his apartment where he was shot.
Oseni initially moved into Capitol View on 14th on Sept. 11, 2019, and signed a lease ending on Nov. 2, 2020. When he moved in, Oseni was 28 and his rent was a little over $3,200 a month, according to court documents.
Around 10 a.m. on Jan. 4, 2020, two men -- who have not been identified -- walked into Capitol View on 14th without being stopped and head up to the fourth floor of the building, where Oseni lived, according to the court documents. There was no controlled access to enter the apartment building, nor was there a concierge at the front desk.
The documents go on to say that at least one of the men had a gun, knocked on Oseni’s door and shot him twice. One of the bullets grazed Oseni’s head and the other entered through his left side and “ricocheted into his right shoulder.” Oseni was taken to a hospital and remained there until Jan. 6, 2020.
After the shooting, UDR sent a notice to tenants stating that Oseni knew the men that shot him. WUSA9 obtained the message that was sent to tenants which in part stated, “Per law enforcement, the victim and shooter were known to each other, this was an isolated incident and there is no ongoing threat to our community.” However, court documents show Oseni told D.C. police officers who talked to him at Howard University Hospital that he did not know the two men that attacked him.
When Oseni attempted to get back into his apartment after leaving the hospital, he says he was told that his access key fob to the building had been disabled and that the locks to his apartment had been changed. After asking UDR to reactivate his key fob and give him a key to enter his apartment, Oseni was told that his key fob would not be reactivated and says he was urged to vacate his apartment “as soon as possible,” in part because other tenants felt uncomfortable with Oseni living at the apartment building, according to court documents.
“He had no fight in him,” said Mark Smith, one of Oseni’s attorneys. “He is just trying to go somewhere where everybody will leave him alone.”
One of the building’s water mains was punctured by a bullet from the shooting and caused water damage. Court documents allege that a UDR associate told Oseni he could be sued for damage done during the shooting, and asked him to sign a document releasing UDR from any responsibilities, liabilities, rights, claims and complaints; he refused to sign it.
“They've disrupted what he bargained for, and this is a burden to him, so he wanted to get away from it,” Smith said, answering why Oseni ultimately decided to leave the apartment, which he did on Jan. 17, 2020.
It is still unclear whether Oseni had to pay rent for the month of January 2020, however, Smith said that he did not face additional financial obligations for vacating the apartment complex before his lease was up.
A month after Oseni decided to move out of the apartment complex, a drug bust occurred on the same floor where he used to reside, according to Smith. He is arguing that the drug bust could mean that the two men who shot Oseni may have meant to shoot someone else. This theory has not been confirmed by officials.
WUSA9 reached out to both Capitol View on 14th and UDR for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
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