Coroner’s report declares Boeing whistleblower death a suicide

The Charleston County, South Carolina, coroner’s report has determined Boeing whistleblower John Barnett’s cause of death was suicide.

Barnett spent 32 years working at Boeing as a quality-control manager, ultimately becoming one of the first to raise the alarm about safety concerns, including faulty installation of oxygen masks and hasty production that led to errors. Shortly after his 2017 retirement, Barnett began a seven-year lawsuit surrounding the quality of Boeing’s products.