A Boeing whistleblower was found dead from an apparent ‘self-inflicted’ gunshot wound

(CNN) — John Barnett, a former Boeing employee who raised serious concerns about the company’s manufacturing standards, was found dead over the weekend in Charleston, South Carolina, the Charleston County Coroner’s Office reported.

Barnett, 62, died March 9 of “what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” according to a coroner’s news release. The city’s police department said detectives are investigating the case and are “awaiting a formal cause of death, as well as any additional findings that may shed more light on the circumstances surrounding Mr. Barnett’s death.”

A statement from Barnett’s lawyers to CNN notes that “John was in the middle of testifying in his whistleblower retaliation case, which was finally coming to an end. He was very excited and looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on. Didn’t see it take his life. No one can believe it. We are all devastated. We need more information about what happened to John. The Charleston police need to investigate this thoroughly. Thorough and accurate and let the public know. What you seek. No detail can be left unsolved.”

His family told NPR that the case will begin the trial phase in June, adding that Barnett was “looking forward to going to court and hoping it will force Boeing to change its culture.”

A statement from his lawyers, Robert Turkewitz and Brian Knowles, described Barnett as “a brave and honest man of the highest integrity”. “He cared deeply about his family, his friends, the Boeing Company, his Boeing colleagues, the pilots and the people who fly Boeing airplanes. We have rarely met a person with a more sincere and sincere character,” they added.

A police incident report said officers were dispatched to a welfare check at the Holiday Inn in Charleston shortly before 10:20 a.m. Saturday. When they arrived, responding police officers found Barnett in the driver’s seat of a truck in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to the head. He had a gun. Barnett was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.

The incident report noted that the hotel received a phone call from “Rob,” requesting a welfare check on “his co-worker John Barnett,” who led hotel employees to a truck in the parking lot.

Barnett traveled to Charleston for a legal interview and was scheduled for further questioning on Saturday, the BBC reported. He was found dead after failing to show.

When contacted by Boeing about Barnett’s death, the company released a statement saying: “We are saddened by the passing of Mr. Barnett and our prayers are with his family and friends.”

A statement from Charleston police indicated that the department was aware that the case had attracted international attention. In that sense, he noted that “our priority is to ensure that the investigation is not influenced by speculation but is guided by facts and evidence. Given the sensitive nature of the investigation, we cannot participate in media interviews at this time. Not unique, but a standard procedure we follow to maintain the integrity of an active investigation.”

According to a 2019 New York Times report cited by CNN, Barnett, a former quality manager who worked at Boeing for decades, “found clusters of metal splinters hanging from the wiring that controls the flight controls.”

Barnett told the newspaper that if those “sharp” splinters “penetrated” the wiring, the result could be “catastrophic”.

“As a quality manager at Boeing, you are the last line of defense before a defect reaches the people on board,” Barnett said. New York Times. “And I have yet to see a plane leave Charleston that I can put my name on and say it’s safe and airworthy.”

In a statement sent to plant employees and provided to CNN at the time, Brad Zebeck, the plant’s site leader and general manager of the 787 program, said the Times report “paints a biased and inaccurate picture of the program and our team. in the plant).”

Zabek, who said that The Time He declined an invitation to visit the plant, saying “quality is the foundation of who we are” adding that the plant delivers “high quality aircraft”.