A former Fox News worker committed suicide outside the network’s midtown offices this morning — and Fox’s Geraldo Rivera was the first to tweet it.
A gun and note were reportedly found at the scene, outside 1211 Avenue of the Americas, near W. 47th Street. The tower is headquarters to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and also houses the media giant’s other main American media companies, the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal. The Journal identified the ex-worker as Phillip Perea, 41, and said he shot himself once in the chest. The Post reported that the man was overheard grumbling that Fox ruined his life. Perea postedvideo and audio files onlineof his meetings with Fox officials and his grievances with various supervisors. He said he was fired for angering Austin Police ChiefArtAcevedo, who cut off Fox after accusing the station and its web site of making him look bad. Perea said he was being railroaded by a supervisor who he called a “psychopath.” Perea was handing out leaflets outside News Corp. before ending his life.
News Corp. has not addressed the circumstances behind Perea’s dismissal.
There were no other injuries at the scene, where witnesses said they were stunned by the drama.
Kris Lew told The Journal she “heard two shots—‘Pop. Pop.’—really quick” at around 7:45 a.m. “I know what gunshots sound like…It was a thing where I thought to myself, ‘Those sound exactly like gunshots, but it can’t be, because we’re in Rockefeller Center. Rivera, a Fox News host, was the first to tweet out news of the suicide.
I’m at my WABC radio office at Madison Square Garden but something bad just happened outside my Fox News office near Radio City lots of cops
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) January 26, 2015
Unconfirmed but word is someone handed security guard a note then went outside and shot himself in front of my Fox News office. Unconfirmed.
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) January 26, 2015
confirmed. former Fox employee from our Austin Tx affiliate shot and killed himself outside our NY HQ. Sad, RIP.
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) January 26, 2015
