Bank of America vice president killed in Times Square stabbing

NEW YORK

A Bank of America vice president was killed and a 68-year-old man wounded in a stabbing in New York’s Times Square on Aug. 31, before police shot dead the suspected attacker.

Police identified the woman killed as Erin Piacenti, 32, who worked in the bank’s Business Selection and Conflicts unit. The injured man was reported to be in stable condition.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the attacks occurred near West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue at around 4:24 p.m. and appeared to be “random and unprovoked.”

The suspected attacker was identified as Pamela Cisneros, a 49-year-old resident of Queens.

According to Tisch, Cisneros pulled two large knives from a shopping bag and stabbed the man in the abdomen as he waited to cross the street with his wife. About 20 seconds later, she attacked Piacenti.

Officers confronted Cisneros as she continued along Seventh Avenue and spent around four minutes trying to persuade her to drop the knives, Tisch said.

Police used stun guns after she refused to surrender and threatened the officers. Two officers opened fire when she moved toward them while still holding the knives.

Piacenti and Cisneros were taken to Bellevue Hospital, where both were pronounced dead.

Police said there was no indication that the attack was linked to terrorism. Tisch said Cisneros had no arrest record with the New York Police Department but had two documented mental health-related encounters with officers in 2018 and 2019.

The police department’s Force Investigation Division is investigating the shooting.