Yeah, that just happened where I work with one guy. He got a bad review and blew up. He quit, and blew ALL the bridges behind him on his way out. IMHO, good riddance, he was a lousy employee anyway.
I'm in IT, in a fairly small market. Unless he's moving (I've no idea, I'm not all that friendly with him) ... I'd call it "unlikely" that he'll work in this area again. Everyone knows everyone else, and he'll trip over his co-workers again, for certain.
Dumb. I know that its tempting to blow bridges. But a civil "I've decided to pursue other interests" or somesuch vanilla comment, is always the more prudent course of action.
We have a guy that is melting down right now.