Choice quotes:
> Mike Wallace: Who are these people?
> Lowell Bergman: Ordinary people under extraordinary pressure, Mike. What the hell do you expect? Grace and consistency?
And:
> Lowell Bergman: I fought for you and I still fight for you!
> Jeffrey Wigand: You fought for me? You manipulated me! Into where I am now - staring at the Brown & Williamson building, it's all dark except for the tenth floor. That's the legal department, that's where they fuck with my life!
> Lowell Bergman: Jeffrey, where are you going with this? Where are you going? (Pause) You are important to a lot of people, Jeffrey. You think about that, and you think about them.
His family doesn't believe so:
> The family says Barnett's health declined because of the stresses of taking a stand against his longtime employer.
> "He was suffering from PTSD and anxiety attacks as a result of being subjected to the hostile work environment at Boeing," they said, "which we believe led to his death."
I'm not familiar with the process here, but does anyone know if the officer makes the determination that this is a "self-inflicted gunshot wound"? I thought that kind of assessment was for the coroner to determine over the course of the investigation.
> The office of Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O'Neal said that Barnett, who had been living in Louisiana after retiring from Boeing, died "from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound."
> Charleston police say detectives are actively investigating the case and are awaiting a formal cause of death as they try to determine the circumstances surrounding Barnett's death.
Mmmmmm. You don't even need the help of Occam's Razor here.
Did he? I haven't seen any citation of his travel itinerary. Also, you can fly with a gun in checked luggage in the US
> gave disposition next day
TFA mentions his disposition "last week"
> magically got a gun bypassing 5-day wait period.
This is South Carolina. SC has no waiting period.
Same article mentioned disposition next day, so you think he stayed two weeks at the seedy motel? I say he went back home between dispos.
So he skated background check after three days of non-response from ATF which automatically allows him to secure his firearm purchase?
Was it a handgun? I haven't seen weapon type reported anywhere.
> despite South Carolina's lack of reciprocity
There are no gun transactions in SC that require a carry license. Guns can also be transported on airplanes without carry licenses. They can also generally be transported via car without a license.
> with his native Washington state.
He is a Louisiana resident.
> so you think he stayed two weeks
I don't know how long he was there, but it doesn't matter. Not only is there is no waiting period for buying a gun in SC, he could have brought one with him on his trip.
> at the seedy motel?
It was a Holiday Inn, which is a hotel and is typically 3-star.
> I say he went back home between dispos.
Does a source say that, or are you making it up?
> So he skated background check after three days of non-response from ATF which automatically allows him to secure his firearm purchase?
NICS typically takes a couple of minutes to process. In SC, like the vast majority of the US, a firearm purchase takes 30 minutes or less.
Our scenario is this: There's a guy in a vehicle. He is holding a gun. He has a gunshot wound. He has been under a lot of stress.
Explanation 1: The guy shot himself. Number of entities (people) required: 1
Explanation 2: Someone else shot the guy and staged the scene to look like a suicide. Number of entities (people) required: 2
Occam's razor says suicide is the most likely explanation
This was a concern citizen, who was a whistleblower against his employer, who had just begun a legal deposition, and there are billions of dollars at stake.
So - the scenario possibly just isn't that simple.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/boeing-whistleblower-wa...
I wonder what gave them the conclusive evidence that the wound was self-inflicted.
Suicide note? Given his interview, where he did not seem at all concerned (Jan 31) and his upcoming scheduled testimony (after years of pursuing this), call me suspicious.
seems to be antithetical to
> conclusive
According to John Carreyrou's book, the company hired law firms to stalk, harass and threaten employees; law firms which -- unlike Theranos -- are still operating, having apparently never faced any consequences for their actions.
“We need more information about what happened to John,” attorneys Robert Turkewitz and Brian Knowles, who represent former Boeing manager John Barnett, said in a statement Tuesday. “The Charleston police need to investigate this fully and accurately and tell the public.
“We didn’t see any indication he would take his own life,” they added. “No one can believe it.”
Or, even more likely, end things not because directly being requested to, but because of having no other way to NOT be forced to back out and cower at the very end, and betray themselves and other people.
All of which is unfortunately making it almost trivial for the adversary to steer things into that direction.