A Boeing quality manager for more than 30 years "exposed very serious safety problems with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner," according to his lawyers. But he did not have time as John Barnett was found dead (suicide).
Police said officers were sent to the hotel to check after people who knew him were unable to contact him. John Barnett, had gone to Charleston to testify against Boeing.
"Upon arrival, officers discovered a man inside a vehicle who had been shot in the head," police said in a statement. a statement released by NPR. "His death has been confirmed...".
Barnett, who worked for Boeing for decades at its plants in Everett, Washington, and North Charleston, South Carolina, had repeatedly alleged that Boeing's manufacturing practices had become lax, and that instead of improving them, managers pressured workers. not to record possible defects and problems.
After his retirement in 2017, he had filed a lawsuit and "was in the middle of filing it when he died, his lawyers, Robert Turkewitz and Brian Knowles, told NPR."
"He was in very good spirits and really looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on," the South Carolina-based attorneys said in a joint statement.
"We had no indication that he was going to kill himself. No one can believe it.”
"We are saddened by Mr. Barnett's passing and our thoughts are with his family and friends," Boeing said in a statement sent to NPR.
Barnett filed the lawsuit against Boeing in early 2017. His case against the company was set to go to trial in June, according to his family. "He was looking forward to his day in court and hoped it would force Boeing to change its culture," the family said in a statement shared with NPR by his brother, Rodney Barnett.
The New York Post states anyway that Barnett "made a prediction that he could possibly end up dead after expressing concerns about the airline's safety, telling a family friend: 'If something happens, it won't be suicide.'
