The Boeing whistleblower found dead in Charleston, South Carolina, in between depositions over the weekend showed no indications he would take his own life and was in good spirits, according to his attorneys.
John Barnett had accused the plane manufacturer of retaliating against him after he flagged problems he saw at Boeing’s 787 factory in South Carolina. Barnett, a 62-year-old longtime Boeing employee who went public with safety concerns he said he uncovered at the North Charleston plant, died Saturday, a day after sitting for a deposition with the company’s lawyers.
Quality problems involving both design and manufacturing have plagued Boeing for years — most prominently after the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019, and again since a fuselage panel blew out on a Max flight shortly after takeoff two months ago.
Mr. Barnett filed the complaint against Boeing with the U.S. Labor Department in 2017 under the AIR21 Whistleblower Protection Program, which protects employees of plane manufacturers who report information pertaining to air carrier safety violations. He left the company that year.
He was supposed to answer more questions but failed to show up. Then police made a grim discovery.
Mr. Barnett was found dead in his pickup truck in the hotel parking lot. The Charleston County Coroner’s office confirmed the death, which it said appeared to be “a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
The Charleston Police Department noted the coroner’s finding in a statement and said it was conducting an investigation. “Detectives are actively investigating this case and are awaiting the formal cause of death, along with any additional findings that might shed further light on the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Barnett,” the department said.