mook:
Thank you VERY much for adding a lot of common
sense (which, sadly, ain't so common anymore!)
into this discussion. And some real-world street
smarts. Ya gotta have a lot of street smarts to
survive in some places. Getting directly involved
with a dangerous person is never a good idea.
Leave that to the pros -- armed and well-trained
pros (=cops). Yes, call for help -- but ONLY from
where the dangerous person can't hear or see you.

Folks: please realize that it is a sad fact that
around 25% of the people in the US have some form
of mental illness. Most people who are mentally
ill are NOT dangerous to others -- only sometimes
to themselves (when life seems unbearably horrible).
We in this country desperately need to have many,
many easily-accessible places where mentally-ill
people can go for affordable or free treatment
This is just sheer pragmatism.

Margaret