South Carolina police are investigating the suspicious death of former Boeing quality manager John Barnett, who was found shot dead in his truck during a break in depositions for a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit.Barnett, 62, had warned for months about the questionable production processes of Boeing’s 737 Max and 787-Dreamliner..The coroner confirmed with the BBC on Monday the coroner’s report claims the Boeing whistleblower’s fatal gunshot wound on Friday, March 8, was “self-inflicted” — while the lawyer who represented Barnett, Brian Knowles, has heavily cast doubts that is the case, according to the Daily Mail. Barnett, who worked at Boeing for more than 30 years, was found dead in his vehicle in a hotel parking lot on Saturday after two days of depositions. He was scheduled to appear that morning for the third day, where he would be cross-examined by his own lawyers.Knowles said in a statement he had fully expected to see his client Saturday morning because they did not finish their cross-examination from the day before and Barnett has put a lot of concerted effort into preparing for the lawsuit. .“John had been back and forth for quite some time getting prepared,” said Knowles. “The defence examined him for their allowed seven hours under the rules on Thursday. I cross examined him all day yesterday (Friday) and did not finish. We agreed to continue this morning at 10 am co-counsel Rob Turkewitz kept calling this morning and his phone would go to voicemail.”“We then asked the hotel to check on him,” said the lawyer. “They found him in his truck dead from an 'alleged' self-inflicted gunshot. We drove to the hotel and spoke with the police and the coroner.”.Charleston Police Department (CPD) announced Tuesday an investigation has been launched into Barnett’s sudden death as they had learned Barnett was in the region for legal interviews pertaining to Boeing destroying his career and reputation for speaking out about the airline giant’s production issues. “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,” Sgt. Anthony Gibson of CPD told local reporters. “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,” said Gibson. “Given the sensitive nature of the investigation, we are unable to participate in media interviews at this time.”“This stance is not unique to this case but is a standard procedure we adhere to in order to preserve the integrity of active investigations,” he said. .Boeing issued a statement Monday saying it was “saddened by Mr. Barnett's passing.”“Our thoughts are with his family and friends,” it said, with no mention of the circumstances of his death. Barnett has warned he had seen workers being directed to take pieces from the scrap metal pile to build new planes that weren’t up to code and new recruits hired on the basis of race and gender rather than competence. He also described the technical problems with the Alaskan Airlines Boeing plane with the door plug that flew off mid-flight to TMZ in January. 'What we're seeing with the door plug blowout is what I've seen with the rest of the airplane, as far as jobs not being completed properly, inspection steps being removed, issues being ignored,” said Barnett..In the same time frame, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) found Boeing had failed 33 of 89 audits.“I know the FAA is going in and doing due diligence and inspections to ensure the door close on the 737 is installed properly and the fasteners are stored properly,” he told the publication in January. “But, my concern is, ‘What's the rest of the airplane? What's the condition of the rest of the airplane?’” he said. “Back in 2012, Boeing started removing inspection operations off their jobs.”“So, it left the mechanics to buy off their own work.”The FAA said a six-week audit found “multiple instances where [Boeing] allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements,” including mechanics at the company’s biggest supplier fixing a door seal with a hotel key card and liquid Dawn dish soap to hold the seal “as lubricant in the fit-up process,” as well as a litany of other safety breaches.
