A 49-year-old woman was fatally shot by NYPD officers in Times Square on Monday afternoon after fatally stabbing one woman and wounding a man in what police described as a random, unprovoked attack.
The woman, identified as Pamela Cisneros, a Queens native, was seen on video holding two knives as officers surrounded her. Cisneros can be heard telling officers, “I’m not dropping anything,” before adding, “I would rather kill both of you. I will kill you.”
Video shows Cisneros swinging her arms in wide circles with the knives still in her hands, prompting officers to use tasers. When she did not go down and instead charged at the officers with the knives extended, they opened fire, striking her. She fell to the ground, where officers began life-saving efforts. Cisneros was later pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.
Cisneros fatally stabbed 32-year-old Erin Piacenti, a Bank of America vice president who had recently celebrated her second wedding anniversary, according to a report by People. Her other victim was a 68-year-old man whose identity has not been released, according to PBS. The entire episode, from the stabbings to the fatal shooting, unfolded over roughly 20 minutes, according to multiple reports.
A 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 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 incident an “unprovoked attack” 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.”
