Father Left Stunned After Daughter’s De@adly Times Square Rampage — Her Family Reveals What She Was Like Just Days Before the Attack
The family of Pamela Cisneros is struggling to understand how a woman they believed was receiving treatment for mental illness could suddenly become involved in a deadly stabbing attack in the heart of New York City.
Cisneros, 49, was fatally shot by NYPD officers on August 31 after authorities said she randomly attacked two strangers in Times Square with two knives. The assault killed 32-year-old Erin Piacenti, a Bank of America vice president, and wounded a 68-year-old man from Rhode Island who was visiting New York with his wife. The man was later released from the hospital.
In an interview with ABC7 New York, Cisneros’ father, Mario Cisneros, said he was unable to reconcile what happened with the daughter he knew. He said she had been receiving monthly medication injections for a mental-health condition and that he had seen her about a week before the attack. At the time, he said, she appeared to be doing well and had never seemed like a violent person.
That apparent stability has become one of the most troubling elements for her relatives.
Cisneros had a documented history of mental-health crises, according to police. Authorities said officers had previously responded to incidents involving her, including one in 2018 when she was reportedly behaving erratically at a Manhattan hotel and another in 2019 when she jumped onto subway tracks in Queens in an apparent suicide attempt. Police said she had been hospitalized multiple times over the years but did not have an arrest record with the NYPD.
Her brother, Patrick Peralta, has also described a woman whose condition appeared to have been relatively stable in the period before the attack. Family members have discussed the possibility of bipolar disorder and questioned whether changes in her treatment may have played a role, although there is no confirmed evidence establishing that as the cause of the attack.
The family’s recollections of the days immediately before the violence have added another layer to the tragedy. According to reports about the family’s account, Cisneros’ mother spoke with her by phone on August 29, two days before the stabbing. Nothing in that conversation reportedly suggested an imminent crisis, leaving relatives struggling to understand how events could change so dramatically.
Meanwhile, investigators continue examining exactly what happened in Times Square.
Police said Cisneros first stabbed the 68-year-old man near West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue before attacking Piacenti less than 20 seconds later. Officers then confronted her near the center of Times Square. Despite repeated commands to drop the knives and attempts to use Tasers, authorities said she continued advancing toward officers while armed. Two officers ultimately fired their weapons, killing her.
Piacenti’s death has left her family, colleagues and community mourning a woman whose life was abruptly cut short. She had recently celebrated her second wedding anniversary and had purchased a home in New Jersey with her husband.
The NYPD Force Investigation Division is reviewing the police shooting, while Cisneros’ family is left confronting a painful question with no simple answer: how could someone they believed was doing well become involved in such a devastating act?
