Her name was Erin Piacenti, she was 32 years old and had just celebrated her second wedding anniversary. This is the randomly chosen fatal victim of the stabbing in Times Square that on Monday was carried out by a woman with severe mental health issues who had even become known to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Piacenti, a resident of Chester (New Jersey), worked for Bank of America, whose headquarters are near where the attack took place, barely a block away. She served as vice president of the Business and Conflicts section.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague,” said a spokesperson for Bank of America. “She was an extraordinary colleague whom we will miss,” they insisted. She had graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. According to her social media, she got married in August 2024.
That fatal stabbing in the abdomen was preceded by another against a 68-year-old man, who survived. Both occurred within about 20 seconds and were described by NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch as unprovoked and random actions. In no case was a new Luigi Mangione case considered, who recently accepted a sentence for killing an insurance company executive in the same area of the city by shooting him in the back. Mangione admitted he went after him, that he was his target.
The alleged perpetrator of the stabbings, Pamela Cisneros, 49, was fatally shot by officers after she refused to surrender the pair of knives she wielded against the officers who tried to subdue her. After failing with Taser guns, the police opened live fire.
Read more Andy Burnham blames Brexit for the slow economic growth of the last decade
The officers spoke with the woman for four minutes and gave her “numerous orders” to drop the knives, but she refused, Tisch explained. “I’m not going to drop anything. I’d rather kill you both. I will kill you,” the woman threatened the officers during the confrontation. The police recovered the two kitchen knives.
Cisneros, a resident of the Queens district, was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where her death was certified. In that same hospital, Piacenti’s death was also certified and the other injured person was treated.
Tisch described the whole scene, in one of the world’s busiest tourist spots, as “extraordinarily dangerous.” She also highlighted that the officers acted diligently “and as they are taught in training when facing a danger to numerous innocent people.”
The commissioner, who traveled to the area along with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, emphasized Cisneros’s mental health history, with incidents dating back to 2018 and 2019. New York has struggled for years with the care and treatment of people with mental illnesses.
Read more The U.S. attacks military targets in Iran again in retaliation for its blockade in Hormuz
