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Former Fox employee shoots himself outside News Corp. building

A former Fox Television Stations employee shot himself in the chest outside the News Corp. building on Monday.

Phillip Perea, a 41-year-old man who previously worked for a Fox station in Austin, Texas, had been handing out fliers that criticized Fox Television for ending his career moments before he shot himself, according to The Wall Street Journal. Earlier on Monday, Perea had written a series of tweets and published a YouTube video in which he criticized Fox for ruining his life.

Perea was found Monday morning outside the News Corp. building in midtown Manhattan with a small-caliber pistol lying next to him. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition. UPDATE (2:43 p.m.): Perea later died at Bellevue.

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Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy wrote a memo to all employees on Monday addressing the shooting: "This morning, a former employee at FOX 7-KTBC (Austin) committed suicide outside FOX Television Stations’ (FTS) headquarters in New York City," Abernethy wrote. "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."

This post has been updated to include the identity of Perea. The lede of the item was removed.

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