Phillip Perea, who worked at a Fox station in Austin, Texas, killed himself outside the front doors of the company headquarters.
- Jan 27, 2015
AceShowbiz - A fired Fox employee killed himself outside News Corp. Building on Monday, January 26 before 9 A.M., a law-enforcement official said. The man, identified as Phillip Perea from Irving, Texas, shot himself in the chest outside the front doors of the 21st Century Fox and News Corp. headquarters which is located on 1211 Avenue of the Americas, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
Perea initially handed out fliers, which criticized his employer for having "ended my career," to employees arriving to work that morning. When a security guard told him that he could not hand out fliers in the private entrance plaza, Perea mumbled something about wanting to be arrested. When the guard moved on, Perea who apparently concealed a handgun under his clothes pulled his weapon and fatally shot himself in the chest.
Perea, 41, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center and was pronounced dead about an hour later. The official said a suicide note in addition to Perea's gun were recovered at the scene.
Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy said in a message to employees regarding the suicide, "This morning, a former employee at FOX 7-KTBC (Austin) committed suicide outside FOX Television Stations' headquarters in New York City. He was employed at our Austin television station for ten months and has not been with the station or FTS since June 2014. We are deeply saddened by this tragedy."
Earlier that day, Perea appeared in a YouTube video where he sounded off grievance over his firing. The video begins with a title card which reads, "You can murder a man without killing him."
Police are still investigating the incident.
