Former employee apparently commits suicide at Fox Network's NYC headquarters

[Drew Phipps]

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/01/26/ma.../21134899/

Former employee apparently commits suicide at Fox Network's NYC headquarters

Jan 26th 2015 10:37AM

By RYAN GORMAN

A former Fox affiliate employee apparently shot himself dead Monday morning outside the network's midtown Manhattan headquarters. Phillip Perea, 41, was dead on arrival at nearby Bellevue Hospital of a gunshot wound to his chest. He reportedly died after protesting the station because he believes executives with parent company News Corp. ruined his career. Perea, from Fort Worth, Texas, recently made dozens of disturbing videos claiming Fox ruined his career and that he was going to be a martyr. The last one was uploaded Monday morning only hours before Perea took his own life.

Police swarmed the building at 46th Street and Sixth Avenue, only one block from Times Square and across the street from Radio City Music Hall, just after 9:00 a.m., police told AOL News. Perea, who was first identified by the Wall Street Journal, was found unresponsive in front of the headquarters of News Corp, Fox Networks' parent company, according to police.

Authorities would not confirm to AOL News the circumstances surrounding the horrific incident, but the New York Post is reporting the man was protesting the Republican-leaning news network just minutes earlier. He reportedly shot himself after being asked to leave, according to both papers, which are also owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

Cops also declined to comment on the contents of a note found in his possession, but the WSJ claims it linked to a YouTube video detailing Perea's complaints about the network. Videos uncovered by AOL News titled "The American Workplace Bully: How FOX News Ended My Career," paint the picture of a disgruntled former employee who he believes was outed as part of a master plot against him.

The videos, of which there are a total of 35, contain recordings of conversations between Perea and coworkers. They were uploaded to YouTube between July of last year and Monday morning. The most recent video starts with the chilling intro "you can murder a man without killing him" before segueing into another screen where he claims "righteous cause demands a martyr."

Perea worked for Austin affiliate KTBC for 10 months ending in June 2014, according to a statement from Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernathy. "We are deeply saddened by this tragedy," Abernathy added. The suicide was bizarrely first tweeted about by Fox News host Geraldo Rivera. "Unconfirmed but word is someone handed security guard a note then went outside and shot himself in front of my Fox News office. Unconfirmed," Rivera wrote on the social media network.


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I'm gonna have to see what stories this guy worked on here in Austin.

[Drew Phipps]

Based on the bits I've heard so far, which YouTube videos aren't apparently organized anywhere (so I really have no idea if I'm getting the full story as it developed over time), it would seem that Phillip suffered from ADD, which contributed to some conflicts with a "Kathy," (a female supervisor or some sort of authority figure).

It would also seem that Fox didn't like Phillip using "harsh" words like "torture" and "waterboarding" in his stories, which lead to another conflict with apparently a different female supervisor (who appeared to be a somewhat lesser authority figure).

[David Guyatt]

Darn those "harsh" words eh. Get with the programme journalists!

Drew, I have been particularly interested in Murdoch and his empire since the UK Parliamentary hearings on him and his son last year about phone tapping, when he (Murdoch) was repeatedly likened to the Mafia. So much so that it started to appear to be that this wasn't the use of a loose metaphor, but something more (I thought). I did some googling at the time and there was a mafia connection to Murdoch via one of his executives, as I remember.

Meanwhile, in your criminal practice, how common is a suicide by gunshot to the chest do you know? I ask because it seems to me to be a pretty difficult thing to do - possible but a contortion - bearing in mind the relative inflexibility of the wrist of most people? That's why most people shoot themselves in the temple or through the mouth isn't it?

[Drew Phipps]

My criminal defense practice doesn't usually involve suicides. That being said, I would suppose that GSW to the chest is not typical. I would suppose that the method is some sort of pointed message; though there also was a note, but police have that under wraps for now.

[Albert Doyle]

Sort of like trying to get on to the Titanic after being denied boarding.

[Peter Lemkin]

Darn those "harsh" words eh. Get with the programme journalists!

Drew, I have been particularly interested in Murdoch and his empire since the UK Parliamentary hearings on him and his son last year about phone tapping, when he (Murdoch) was repeatedly likened to the Mafia. So much so that it started to appear to be that this wasn't the use of a loose metaphor, but something more (I thought). I did some googling at the time and there was a mafia connection to Murdoch via one of his executives, as I remember.

Meanwhile, in your criminal practice, how common is a suicide by gunshot to the chest do you know? I ask because it seems to me to be a pretty difficult thing to do - possible but a contortion - bearing in mind the relative inflexibility of the wrist of most people? That's why most people shoot themselves in the temple or through the mouth isn't it?

Murdoch's 'Mafia' is the intelligence community and bankers (which are connected at the hip from birth).

[David Guyatt]

The Mafia aren't right wing enough already? ::laughingdog::