Boeing whistleblower John Barnett's death March 9 in Charleston, S.C., was ruled a suicide by the coroner's office, the Charleston Police Department said Friday.
A notebook found in Barnett's orange Dodge Ram suggests he was "going through a period of serious personal distress," police added.
Barnett, 62, was found dead outside of a Charleston hotel with a gunshot wound to the head the same day he was due to testify against jetliner giant Boeing. He worked for the company for 32 years before retiring in 2017.
Barnett in 2021 filed a retaliation complaint against the company for giving him low-performance scores, separating him from his team, and blacklisting and blocking him from transferring to other Boeing divisions outside of South Carolina after he made several ethics complaints about "a deep-rooted and persistent culture of concealment."
Barnett's brother, Rodney Barnett, told the Associated Press that "John was deeply concerned about the safety of the aircraft and flying public, and had identified some serious defects that he felt were not adequately addressed. ... He said that Boeing had a culture of concealment and was putting profits over safety."
Charleston County deputy coroner Ella Butler said "a notebook containing writing resembling a suicide note was located on the passenger seat," was found in John Barnett's.
"The writings contained information known only to his family," Butler said.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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