Police-released video shows a knife-wielding woman charging at NYPD officers in Times Square before she was shot and killed, moments after fatally stabbing one person and wounding another in a random daytime attack.
The woman, identified as 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros of Queens, was surrounded by officers Monday afternoon while holding what appears to be two knives. Video captures her telling officers, “I’m not dropping anything,” and, “I would rather kill both of you. I will kill you.”
She then swung her arms in wide circles with the knives still in hand. Officers deployed tasers, but Cisneros did not go down. She charged at police with the knives extended, and officers opened fire, striking her. She fell to the ground bleeding from gunshot wounds, and officers began life-saving efforts before she was detained. Cisneros was later pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.
The entire sequence — from the start of her stabbing spree to her fatal shooting — unfolded over about 20 minutes.
Cisneros fatally stabbed 32-year-old Erin Piacenti, a Bank of America vice president who had recently celebrated her second wedding anniversary. She also wounded a 68-year-old man whose identity has not been made public.
Witness Linda Ruiz described the scene to the New York Daily News: “I saw a guy bleeding profusely from his right leg. He was gushing blood, saying, ‘I need help. Help me.'”
“I went to get a cop on the corner and there was another lady on the floor. There was a lot of blood. She wasn’t conscious. The police were trying to resuscitate her. But she wasn’t moving. It was horrible.”
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Cisneros had a “documented mental health history” with the department, including two prior incidents in 2018 and 2019, but had never been arrested.
“This was an extraordinarily dangerous situation unfolding in the heart of Times Square, the crossroads of the world,” Tisch told reporters at a press conference Monday night. “At any given moment, there are thousands of New Yorkers, commuters, tourists, families, workers moving through these streets.”
Tisch called the attack “unprovoked” and defended the officers’ response. “Our officers were confronted with a rapidly evolving threat with countless innocent people around them. In that moment, they did what we trained them to do,” she said.
