Former Fox station employee commits suicide outside News Corp HQ

LOS ANGELES — A former employee of a Fox-owned station shot and killed himself outside the News Corp. building Monday, according to a report in The New York Post and a report by The Wall Street Journal.

The newspapers, citing police who had been at the scene, said the man had been protesting outside the building, which is also home to 21st Century Fox, and had been told to leave by security guards. Instead of following their instructions, the man appeared to have shot himself. A small-caliber weapon was found by his side, the Post said.

The Wall Street Journal, citing a law-enforcement official, identified him as Phillip Perea, 41 years old, of Irving, Texas, and said he had once worked for a Fox station in Austin, Texas.

The Post reported the man was heard saying his former employer had “ruined his life,” the Post reported, without providing additional information. A suicide note was found in his pocket, the newspaper said. The man was taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition, the newspaper reported, but The Journal reported he died an hour later.