TORONTO — The woman killed in a Times Square stabbing on Monday has been identified as Erin Piacenti, a 32-year-old Bank of America vice-president from Chester, New Jersey.Bank of America confirmed the death to Reuters. “We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague. She was a valued teammate who will be greatly missed. Our hearts go out to her family and all of her loved ones.”Piacenti worked in New York as vice-president of business selection and conflicts. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2016 and Fordham Law School in 2021. Social media posts show she and her husband marked their second wedding anniversary on August 10. She died at Bellevue Hospital.The New York Post first named her Tuesday.NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Piacenti was stabbed in the abdomen near 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue in an “unprovoked attack.” The two stabbings were about 20 seconds apart. The first 911 calls came at 4:24 p.m..Police identified the attacker as Pamela Cisneros, 49, of Queens. They have not released her citizenship or immigration status.Tisch said Cisneros pulled two kitchen knives from a red Target bag and stabbed a 68-year-old man in the abdomen after he left the subway with his wife near West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, then continued toward Times Square and stabbed Piacenti. Bloomberg described the man as a Rhode Island tourist. He was in stable condition at Bellevue. He has not been named.Tisch said officers then spent about four minutes near 7 Ave. and 43 St. telling Cisneros to drop the knives. She refused. “I’m not dropping anything. I would rather kill both of you,” Tisch quoted her as saying. Stun guns did not stop her. She advanced on officers and two of them fired. She died at Bellevue. Body cameras recorded the shooting. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the video will be released. Both knives were recovered.Cisneros had no NYPD arrest record. Tisch said she had one documented mental-health contact with police in 2018 and one in 2019. The commissioner gave no diagnosis and no detail on those files. Police said there is no evidence of terrorism, no known motive, and the attacks appeared random. Investigators have not said why she was in Times Square.
