Woman fatally stabs bystander in Times Square before police shoot her dead

Unprovoked attacks along Seventh Avenue

The New York City Police Department call centre received multiple 911 calls beginning at approximately 16:24 local time reporting a woman with two knives attacking people on Seventh Avenue. Pamela Cisneros, a 49-year-old resident of Queens, had pulled two large kitchen knives from a red Target shopping bag near West 41st Street. She first targeted a 68-year-old man who had just exited the subway and stood waiting to cross the street with his wife. Cisneros waved the knives and stabbed the man in the right side of his abdomen before walking rapidly toward West 42nd Street.

Roughly 20 seconds after the first assault, Cisneros attacked a second pedestrian in front of an outdoor retail stand selling sunglasses and baseball caps. The vendor, 62-year-old Aliou Dieye, witnessed Cisneros approach 32-year-old Erin Piacenti without uttering a word before stabbing her directly in the stomach. Piacenti, a resident of Chester, New Jersey and a vice president at Bank of America, collapsed onto the sidewalk as Dieye and a bystander telephoned 911. Both victims were taken to the hospital by emergency medical personnel, where Piacenti died from her injuries. The 68-year-old man was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where medical staff confirmed his condition was stable.

Standoff and police confrontation

Following the two attacks, Cisneros fled north toward West 43rd Street and encountered officers near an NYPD substation outside One Times Square. At least 10 uniformed officers quickly established a semicircular perimeter roughly three meters away, attempting to isolate the armed suspect from passing crowds and road traffic. Responding police spent four minutes ordering Cisneros to drop her weapons and attempting verbal negotiation. Cisneros refused every command while brandishing both blades toward the officers.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the confrontation during a news conference.

I'm not dropping anything. I would rather kill both of you.

1. 16:24Pamela Cisneros stabs a 68-year-old man at West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue.
2. 20 seconds laterCisneros fatally stabs 32-year-old Erin Piacenti near West 42nd Street.
3. Four-minute standoffNYPD officers surround Cisneros at West 43rd Street and demand she drop the knives.
4. Taser deploymentOfficers attempt to subdue Cisneros with a stun gun, but the device fails to stop her.
5. Police gunfireOfficers shoot Cisneros as she charges toward them with the knives raised.

Escalation and lethal force

When verbal instructions failed, officers attempted to subdue Cisneros with a Taser device. Witness recordings posted to social media showed stun gun wires discharging toward the suspect without immobilizing her. Cisneros then began waving her arms and rushed directly toward the officers. As one officer retreated, at least two officers drew their service weapons and fired multiple gunshots, striking the suspect.

Officers handcuffed Cisneros on the pavement, turned her over, and initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid before ambulances arrived. She was transported to the hospital in critical condition, where doctors later pronounced her dead. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani commended the responding officers for halting the violence.

I want to thank the officers who prevented this horrific attack from becoming even worse.

Investigation and background

The NYPD closed off portions of Seventh Avenue and advised the public to avoid the area while crime scene units inspected bloodstains and collected evidence near One Times Square. Investigators reported that Cisneros had a documented psychiatric medical history and had previously been involved in police interventions in 2018 and 2019. Police officials emphasized that the assault was completely unprovoked, ruling out any link to international or domestic terrorism. Department records noted that in the Midtown South precinct covering Times Square, physical assaults had fallen 5% in 2026 compared to 2025.