John Barnett’s Cause of Death Revealed
In the moments before he apparently shot himself through the left temple, Boeing whistleblower John Barnett sat in the front seat of his orange Dodge Ram truck and scrawled his final thoughts into a notebook.
“I can’t do this any longer! Enough!” he wrote, according to a suicide note obtained by The Post. “F— Boeing.”
“America,” he continued “Come together or die!! I pray the motherf—that destroyed my life pay!!! I pray Boeing pays!!! Bury me face down so Boeing and their lying-ass leaders can kiss my ass.”
Authorities say they have authenticated the handwriting as belonging to Barnett. Only his fingerprints were found on the notebook.
In the letter, Barnett also sends missives to his loved ones.
“To my family and friends, I found my purpose,” he wrote. “I’m at peace. I love you more.”
Barnett was a quality control engineer who worked for Boeing for more than three decades before retiring in 2017.
During his tenure, he says he had raised a great deal of safety complaints to his bosses which he says were unheeded, particulrlay when he worked at the company’s Charleston plant. Barnett claimed his bosses then retaliated against him and put him in a largely administrateive role.
Two years later, he told the BBC Boeing cut corners by rushing to get its 787 Dreamliner jets off the production line and into service.
Boeing has been under heightened scrutiny in recent months due to a myriad of issues on its planes, including in January when a door plug blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight.
Following the Jan. 5 mid-air fiasco, the Federal Aviation Administration discovered “unacceptable” quality control issues during an audit into Boeing and supplier Spirit AeroSystems.
Barnett was found dead on the morning of March 9 after he failed to show up for the third day of depositions about Boeing’s safety practices. His lawyers and family have questioned the circumstances around the shooting, and said he didn’t seem despondent in the days leading up to the alleged suicide.
The suicide note was released by the Charleston Police Department, who have closed their investigation into his death, concluding he took his own life.
