Updated

Police believe they were able to prevent a southwestern Pennsylvania man's suicide after the man's friend in California alerted police about a distraught Facebook posting.

Police in Uniontown say a man from Stanford, Calif. called them Saturday night and asked them to check on his friend because the friend put a message on the social networking site saying he "was going to end it all."

Uniontown police met with the man who was committed to Highlands Hospital in Connellsville after also telling police that he wanted to kill himself by an overdose of medication or by hanging

Police are not identifying either man, but say they apparently knew each other from performing missionary work together years ago.

Uniontown is about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh.