So scary. Hours after a homeless man attacked Pauley Perrette on Thursday, Nov. 12, the NCIS actress opened up about the harrowing incident in a new interview.
"I've been crying all night, clearly," Perrette, 46, told Entertainment Tonight on Friday, Nov. 13. "He told me he was going to kill me several times and I absolutely believed him. I prayed as hard as I've ever prayed for anything ever in my life, and I didn't do anything. I thought, anything I do would escalate the situation — I couldn't overcome him, he was stronger than me."
The star, who was attacked near her home in Hollywood on Thursday, took to Twitter following the scary encounter to share her story. “He grabbed me so forcefully, pinned my arm, punched me in the nose, forehead repeatedly telling me he was going to kill me,” she tweeted. “Then he showed me how he was going to kill me."
The actress, who's best known for her role as forensic specialist Abby Sciuto on CBS' smash series, said there was an empty garage behind her at the time. "I knew if he got in there I was dead," she tweeted Friday. Fortunately, Perrette prayed and spoke words of kindness to her assailant. She said to him: "'William is a beautiful name, I have a little nephew named William.’ That’s all I said, all I did."
He then continued to punch her and finally let her go, according to the actress. Immediately after the assault, Perrette drew a sketch of the man. "I took a pen and I immediately, in shock, like drew a picture of the guy, 'cause I didn't have a camera," the actress told ET. "The guy looks exactly like the thing that I drew."
According to ET, the LAPD confirmed on Friday that authorities had booked a man named David Merck on charges of felony battery. The 45-year-old white male was arrested at a nearby 7-Eleven.
Perrette's just starting to process the incident. "I'm a criminal science major. I'm on a crime show, I'm a crime person, but what it actually feels like to be an innocent victim, a pedestrian walking down the street, and be snatched?" she said to the outlet. "I know what it feels like now and I was terrified."
However, she concluded that she was among the luckier victims of crime. "I'm glad he didn't kill me, but whatever, he doesn't know who I am," she said. "He doesn't know. He's mentally ill and he has no support."
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