PASCO, Fla., Nov. 17 (UPI) -- A Pasco, Fla., deputy used Facebook to end a standoff with an armed suicidal man.
Officials say the man, whose name was not released, reportedly got into an argument with his wife and then barricaded himself in a shed Wednesday morning, The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported.
The man, who was armed with a handgun, told his wife Wednesday he was "going to do something to make the cops kill me."
Authorities who responded to the incident learned there was no phone in the shed, but there was a computer.
Cpl. Art Morrison II, a Sheriff's Office hostage negotiator, sent the man a Facebook friend request to initiate conversation.
The man accepted and Morrison and the man began chatting via Facebook.
After the man set a mattress on fire, Morrison convinced him to leave the shed, officials said.
The man was taken into custody under Florida's Mental Health Act.
No one was injured during the standoff.
