‘BEWARE’ OF BOEING
Whistleblower death is suspicious: staff
Boeing workers have warned that whistleblower John Barnett “made powerful enemies” before his alleged suicide, as a puzzling discrepancy on his police report has emerged.
Barnett was found dead in his pickup truck outside a Charleston, SC, hotel on March 9, the same morning he was due to conclude private testimony in a lawsuit against the jet company where he had worked for most of his career.
According to a Charleston police report, Barnett had extended his stay at the Holiday Inn until March 8 and was spotted on surveillance video leaving the hotel that morning.
However, Holiday Inn staff told The Post he ate dinner in the hotel’s restaurant that night.
The police report also noted Barnett’s driving license was still in his room when he was found with a gunshot wound to the head and a pistol in his hand.
The investigation into his death is still ongoing.
‘Nothing surprises me’
Employees at the local Boeing plant where Barnett had worked say the community is shaken up.
One Boeing employee, who spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity, said workers were skeptical about the cause of Barnett’s death, which has been preliminarily labeled as a suicide.
“It actually gives me a pit in my stomach because of what he’s been saying, and he’s dead now,” the source said. “Maybe he killed himself. I don’t know what to believe. We don’t really talk about it on the [assembly] line. We’re on camera from the minute we get on the property. They can hear us.
“A lot of people are skeptical, because he made some pretty powerful enemies.”
Another employee said: “Nothing surprises me when it comes to Boeing. It’s a good job but you’ve got to stay in line. If you don’t, you won’t work there anymore.”
Boeing did not directly address the claims but said in a statement: “We are saddened by Mr. Barnett’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family and friends.”
Police have not indicated that Boeing is under investigation or suspected of any foul play.
Barnett was a quality control engineer at Boeing for more than 30 years before he retired in 2017.
Two years later, he told the BBC that Boeing cut corners to get its 787 Dreamliner jets into service. He has said he complained to the company, but they did not take action, spurring him to go public.
His lawyers are calling for a thorough investigation.
“We didn’t see any indication he would take his own life,” attorneys Robert Turkewitz and Brian Knowles said in a statement Tuesday. “No one can believe it.”
Boeing recently has been under heightened scrutiny after multiple issues aboard its planes, including in January when a door plug blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight.