I have a childhood friend who went off the rails. Seriously off the rails. He became delusional and paranoid. I cut him off from contact with my family, but didn’t report him to the police. Why would I? He hadn’t made any threats of violence or expressed an allegiance to a terrorist organization. If he had, I would have dropped the dime.
I understand people’s reluctance to report a dangerously mentally ill person or potential jihadi. Not only does it put you on law enforcement’s radar, it make you a target for assassination. But I don’t want to be that guy, the one who thinks “I knew he was going to do something horrible.”
The question is, what would it take for you to sound the alarm on a potential killer? Ever been in this situation?