Boeing Whistleblower Found Dead Amid Legal Action Against Company

A former Boeing employee known for raising concerns about the safety of its planes was found dead while working on providing a deposition as part of a lawsuit against the aviation giant, his attorneys said.

John Barnett, 62, was discovered with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head outside of a Holiday Inn in Charleston, South Carolina, on Saturday, the Charleston Police Department said in a statement that cited the local county coroner’s office, which separately confirmed his death to HuffPost.

His discovery in a vehicle, just before 10:20 a.m., followed a request for a welfare check at the hotel, police said.

“We understand the global attention this case has garnered, and it is our priority to ensure that the investigation is not influenced by speculation but is led by facts and evidence,” the police department said, declining to comment further due to the ongoing investigation.

Barnett was in the middle of a whistleblower retaliation case against Boeing after claiming to have witnessed a series of safety issues during his 32 years working for the company, his attorneys said Tuesday in a joint statement to HuffPost.

The case was “nearing the end” and there was no indication that Barnett was contemplating taking his own life, they said while urging a full and transparent investigation by police.

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

The former quality control engineer, who retired from Boeing in 2017, was one of several employees who spoke out publicly about safety issues in the years after