Actor James Woods reached out to a distressed veteran who was contemplating suicide, tweeting out words of encouragement and gathering information to help police find him.
The 71-year-old actor, who often uses the social media platform to highlight his conservative views, alerted the Orlando Police Department on Monday night about the suicidal vet and asked for a wellness check on a former Marine, whose name is being ommitted here by Newsmax.
"A man named [name deleted] just said on @Twitter that he is sitting in a parking lot and is going to kill himself," Woods tweeted to his nearly two million followers. "He's sitting with his dog, a black lab, possibly in a WalMart parking lot."
Woods' plea for help included a screenshot from the veteran's Twitter account, which has since been deleted.
"I'm on Twitter every day, I retweet all the time, but this is the first tweet I've ever written," the user tweeted Thursday. "I'm [a] good guy, I'm a veteran, I love America. I'm gonna kill myself tonight. I've lost everything I have nobody, nobody cares."
Woods responded in a series of tweets, initially asking the veteran to "tell me where you are."
"We can talk. I don't care what anybody thinks. Do you? Let's have a conversation. Just you . . . and I," Woods wrote in one tweet, adding in another, "I'm following you now, so you can DM me. We can talk privately. Or we can talk openly right here. Lot of people worried about you right now."
In another attempt to engage the ex-Marine, Woods tweeted: "Someone said you're [name deleted]. In Orlando? Im not trying to trap you. Let's just talk. You also have your dog. Your little schnoot. Boy or girl?"
He also tweeted: "I'm driving cross country. Sitting in a motel room. I have all night. I know that sounds dorky, but here I am! I would love to talk. Just talk. I won't push you into anything."
After the vet deleted his account, Woods turned to his 1.86 million Twitter followers to help gather information on the veteran's location, forwarding the home address to authorities in Maitland, Florida, who checked his home. He was not there.
"If only [name deleted] could see the THOUSANDS of fellow Americans who are pulling for him. It's like he's lost behind enemy lines and we are cheering him home, willing him to survive," Woods tweeted. "[Name deleted], do this for the 'other 21' vets a day who don't make it home from the darkness. Stay alive!"
Maitland Police Public Information Officer Lt. Louis Y. Grindle told USA Today on Tuesday that authorities were finally able to reach the veteran.
"Our agency was able to make contact with him by phone earlier this morning, where he advised he was OK but did not wish to have contact with law enforcement," the emailed statement read, USA Today reported. "Our officers are still working to try and physically locate him to determine his well-being."
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