A suicide note was reportedly found next to Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, however, his lawyers are questioning whether he took his own life.
Boeing whistleblower John Barnett was found dead from a self-inflicted wound inside his vehicle outside a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina days after testifying against the airplane company.
John Barnett was found dead on March 9. He worked for Boeing for 32 years until he retired in 2017.
“Barnett’s death came during a break in depositions in a whistleblower retaliation suit, where he alleged under-pressure workers were deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the assembly line.” the Daily Mail reported.
Charleston police are investigating after Barnett was found in his truck “suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.”
According to the Daily Mail, Barnett was reportedly found with a ‘silver handgun’ in his hand and his finger on the trigger. A suicide note was also found on the passenger side of the vehicle.
The contents of the note were not released.
Barnett’s lawyers are asking for a thorough probe because they don’t believe he committed suicide.
“John was in the midst of a deposition in his whistleblower case, which finally was nearing the end,” Barnett’s lawyers said, according to The New York Post. “He was in very good spirits and really looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on.”
The New York Post reported:
Lawyers for a Boeing whistleblower found dead on the day he was due to testify against the jetliner giant are questioning that he killed himself in a South Carolina parking lot — and calling for an investigation.
“We need more information about what happened to John,” attorneys Robert Turkewitz and Brian Knowles, who represent former Boeing manager John Barnett, said in a statement Tuesday. “The Charleston police need to investigate this fully and accurately and tell the public.
“We didn’t see any indication he would take his own life,” they added. “No one can believe it.”
“No detail can be left unturned.”
Barnett, 62, was due in court for further testimony in a bombshell lawsuit against the company when he was found dead, with the Charleston County coroner ruling the cause as a “self-inflicted” wound.
Barnett was a quality control engineer who worked for the airline for more than three decades before he retired in 2017 — and two years later told the BBC that Boeing cut corners by rushing to get its 787 Dreamliner jets off the production line and into service.
Turkewitz and Knowles said he was also “in very good spirits” as he prepared to give a deposition against the company on Monday.
Barnett came forward with concerns about defective parts and serious problems with the oxygen masks.
The whistleblower told BBC that “sub-standard parts had even been removed from scrap bins and fitted to planes that were being built to prevent delays on the production line.”
“He also claimed that tests on emergency oxygen systems due to be fitted to the 787 showed a failure rate of 25%, meaning that one in four could fail to deploy in a real-life emergency.” – BBC reported.
Barnett’s apparent suicide comes after several Boeing planes have been grounded due to major issues with the aircraft’s construction.
A United Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 suffered gear failure last Friday and crashed off the runway at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Friday’s gear failure comes one day after a United Airlines Boeing 777 plane was forced to make an emergency landing after it lost a tire during takeoff.
The United plane was taking off from San Francisco when one of the six tires detached from the aircraft and damaged several cars in the parking lot. The flight was diverted to LAX where it safely landed.
In January a large piece of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX blew out in mid-air.
The plane door flew off amid Boeing’s focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) hiring practices over a passenger’s safety.
