Body-camera footage is expected to be released as authorities examine officers’ response to a deadly knife attack.
NEW YORK — The NYPD is investigating officers’ fatal shooting of an armed woman in Times Square after police said repeated commands and attempts to stop her with Tasers failed during a confrontation that followed two apparently random stabbings.
The police shooting ended a rapidly developing episode Monday afternoon that left 32-year-old Erin Piacenti dead and a 68-year-old man hospitalized in critical but stable condition. Police identified the suspected attacker as Pamela Cisneros, 49, of Queens. Officials said officers’ body-worn cameras recorded the confrontation and that the footage will be made public.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Cisneros stabbed the two victims within about 20 seconds of each other near Seventh Avenue and West 41st and 42nd streets. The first victim had just exited the subway and was standing with his wife when he was attacked. Cisneros then continued north and attacked Piacenti, police said.
Witnesses alerted officers, who encountered Cisneros near the NYPD substation in Times Square while she was carrying two knives, according to police. Tisch said officers spent about four minutes directing her to drop the weapons. Cisneros refused, and police said she made threats toward the officers during the encounter.
Multiple officers deployed Tasers, but the attempts did not stop Cisneros, Tisch said. Police said she continued moving toward officers with the knives before two officers fired their service weapons. Cisneros was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Police recovered both knives.
The NYPD’s review is expected to examine the officers’ actions and the sequence of events before gunfire was used. Police shootings routinely undergo departmental investigation, and video from body-worn cameras can provide evidence about officers’ commands, the distance between those involved and how quickly a confrontation developed.
The case also raised questions about the role of mental health response programs when a person is in crisis but is also accused of immediate violence. Tisch said Cisneros had a documented mental health history involving prior NYPD contacts in 2018 and 2019 but no arrest record. Officials have not released further details about those earlier contacts or what may have led to Monday’s violence.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city’s Office of Community Safety is intended to use mental health workers in some emergency responses, but he said the approach was not designed for circumstances in which an armed person poses an immediate threat. Cisneros was accused of already stabbing two people when police confronted her.
Mamdani praised the officers who responded while also confirming that the shooting would be investigated and body-camera video released. Authorities said they had found no evidence that the stabbing attack was related to terrorism, and police had not announced a motive as of Tuesday.
The investigation remains active as detectives review evidence from the stabbings and the subsequent police shooting. Officials have not announced a date for the release of the body-camera recordings.
Author note: Last updated September 1, 2026.