Slightly big news: Boeing Whistleblower found dead, "self-inflicted" gunshot wound to the head

[thewayne]

Wow. Words absolutely fail me.

John Barnett had worked for Boeing for thirty years before retiring in 2017 for medical reasons. He was a senior quality control engineer on the 787 program. He became a whistleblower when he saw sub-standard parts being installed and later discovered a 25% failure rate in the passenger breathing mask system for the 787.

He was in Charleston as part of a long-running legal battle against Boeing. When he failed to appear as part of this on Saturday, they searched for him at his hotel and he was found dead in his truck in the parking lot.

Of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

I really, REALLY hope the FBI steps in on this one. It might have been a clean suicide, it might not have been. But there's too much going on with Boeing without there being a VERY serious investigation into this!

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68534703

Comments

[silveradept]

That very much should invoke a stronger investigation, just to be certain that it was self-inflicted and that there were no actions from the company that might have hurried, harried, or provoked this action. If for no other reason than for Boeing not to get tagged with not just being a company that has problems with their safety equipment, but also tries to eliminate the people who blow the whistle against them.