Pauley Perrette, best known for role as Abby Sciuto on NCIS, was attacked by a homeless man with criminal history outside her Hollywood Hills home on Thursday evening. The 46-year-old actress posted an essay about the assault on Twitter, writing:
“He grabbed me so forcefully, pinned my arm, punched me in the nose, forehead repeatedly telling me he was going to kill me. The he showed me how he was going to kill me. He kept repeating his name: ‘WILLIAM ____ ____, DON’T FORGET THAT! I’m Going to kill you’ I was alone, terrified and trapped.”
Perrett wrote that she immediately drew a police sketch of her attacker, and called her "church friend cop" who contacted additional officers. The police booked David Merck on suspicion of felony battery. He is being held on $100,000 bail.
Perrette has been a long time ally and advocate for LGBT rights, appearing in an HRC video for marriage equality, joining the NOH8 campaign, and refusing to marry until same-sex couples were also legally allowed to do so.
Perrette’s advocacy extends to her work with charities for the homeless, and she expressed compassion for her attacker. She finished her Tweet with a plea for better social services:
“I am shaken and traumatized. My house, my beloved Hollywood. My beloved homeless people that I spend my life protecting. My life changed tonight. My… I don’t know. We need full mental health care. We need housing and help for the homeless. We need to support our cops.”
In an Entertainment Tonight interview, she echoed this sentiment, saying, “I’m really happy to be safe, but you know, he breaks my heart.”
Despite her composure as a witness, and her compassionate response to her attacker, her essay ends on an emotional note.
“I need to heal,” Perrette wrote. “I almost died tonight.
