“NCIS” actress Pauley Perrette has a real-life case on her hands after the release of her alleged attacker

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 15: (L-R) Cast of NCIS Michael Weatherly, Cote de Pable, Mark Harmon, Pauley Perrette and Brian Dietzen attend CBS 2013 Upfront Presentation at The Tent at Lincoln Center on May 15, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)

Pauley Perrette is afraid for her own safety after learning her alleged attacker has been released back to the streets.

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Homeless man David Merck recently left a state psychiatric institution after attacking and threatening to kill the “NCIS” star back in 2015. Now that he’s back on the streets, Perrette is worried she or someone else may be harmed.

“It changed my life forever. I don’t walk outside my house,” Perrette said this week. “I think it’s entirely possible that the next word I hear about this guy is that he’ll kill a female.”

Merck was charged with felony criminal threats and imprisonment by violence after Perrette came forward with the scary incident shortly after it happened. At his arraignment, he pleaded guilty, but was later found incompetent to stand trial. Instead, he was sent to Patton State Hospital in California.

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“I was walking across my street to a new guest house I bought to meet my architect on my street, I was jumped by a VERY psychotic homeless man,” she recalled the ordeal. “He grabbed me so forcefully, pinned my arm, punched me in the nose, forehead repeatedly telling me he was going to kill me. Then he showed me how he was going to kill me.”

A year later, Perrette wrote a moving piece in which she forgave Merck for attacking her.

“Of course I forgive him. I have no anger, only sadness,” she said at the time. “He didn’t know who I was, he didn’t know who he was. He is very confused, he’s homeless and he needs help.”

The LAPD has indicated that its officers are aware that Merck is out and about on the streets, and they’ve promised to any calls regarding an alleged crime on his part.

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