Actor and conservative personality James Woods used his Twitter account help to a distressed veteran who was considering taking his own life.
The 71-year-old actor contacted the Orlando Police Department on Monday, Nov. 19, with a request to intervene as former Marine Andrew MacMasters appeared on the verge of suicide.
“Hello @OrlandoPolice,” Woods began his tweet, before explaining, “A man named Andrew MacMasters just said on @Twitter that he is sitting in a parking lot and is going to kill himself.”
Woods, who has nearly 2 million followers on Twitter, continued “He’s sitting with his dog, a black lab, possibly in a WalMart parking lot. Can you do a #WelfareCheck? He is a Marine Vet.”
‘I’ve Lost Everything’
“I’m on Twitter every day, I retweet all the time but this is the first tweet I’ve ever written,” user @macmasters_a 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 with a series of tweets to MacMasters’s desperate plight.
“So think about this. A lot of vets, I understand, have come to where you are tonight,” Woods continued. “If you could just push this decision off tonight, at least, maybe you would also inspire another vet to seek help. You could save another man, too. By waiting to do this.”
“Andrew, don’t feel embarrassed that you reached out in the darkness. Nobody thinks you’re foolish for that. You know every one of us reaching out to you right now has some depression, too. I’ll say it. I do,” Woods wrote.
“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,” he said.
Woods continued to try to reach out to MacMasters even after his account was deleted. The actor turned to social media users for help to locate the veteran.
The actor finally contacted Maitland police in Florida after receiving information that MacMasters lived in the city.
“Okay. Just talked to Maitland Police. The dispatch supervisor there was terrific. He’s confident they will find him. I gave Billy, the dispatcher, Andrew’s home address and the info a reliable source DMed me. They are all over this,” Woods tweeted. “Andrew wasn’t at his home address. @PoliceMaitland is getting assistance from neighboring agencies. They are really on this.”
“He advised he was OK but did not wish to have contact with law enforcement,” police spokesman Lt. Louis Grindle said in an email. “Our officers are still working to try and physically locate him to determine his well-being. “
“If only Andrew 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. “Andrew, do this for the ‘other 21’ vets a day who don’t make it home from the darkness. Stay alive!”
Woods uses his Twitter profile to comment on ongoing issues. He recently used the wide reach of the platform to help link people together with family members following the California wildfires.
