BOEING WHISTLEBLOWER: ‘IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, IT IS NOT SUICIDE’

Sat 16 March 2024:

John Barnett, a 62-year-old whistleblower who worked for Boeing for 32 years, did not commit suicide. according to a family friend. He was discovered dead by apparent suicide by authorities in South Carolina.

The Charleston County coroner’s office confirmed on Tuesday that Barnett died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. An inquiry into the incident is underway.

Barnett’s friend Jennifer told ABC News affiliate WPDE, “I know he didn’t commit suicide. “There is no way.” Jennifer stated that she and Barnett discussed this exact situation playing out.

Jennifer said that when she needed help one day, Barnett came to see her. The two talked about his upcoming deposition in Charleston. She knew that her friend filed an extremely damaging complaint against Boeing.

Boeing said in a statement, “We are saddened by Mr. Barnett’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family and friends.”

“He wasn’t concerned about safety because I asked him,” she told WPDE, adding, “I said, ‘Aren’t you scared?’ And he said, ‘No, I ain’t scared, but if anything happens to me, it’s not suicide.'”

Jennifer further said that she thought somebody didn’t like what her friend had to say and wanted to shut him up. “That’s why they made it look like a suicide,” she said. The last time Jennifer saw Barnett was at her father’s funeral last month.

Barnett worked as a quality manager at Boeing and left the company in 2017. According to a report by the news agency Reuters, the 62-year-old’s lawyers Robert Turkewitz and Brian Knowles said that he was in the middle of a deposition in an ongoing whistleblower retaliation case against Boeing.

“He was in very good spirits and really looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on. We didn’t see any indication he would take his own life. No one can believe it,” they said.

The lawyers also said that their client had exposed very “serious safety problems with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and was retaliated against and subjected to a hostile work environment.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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