A Bank of America vice president was killed and another person was wounded Monday afternoon when a woman armed with two knives attacked passersby in Times Square before being shot by police, authorities said.
The New York Police Department identified the woman killed as Erin Piacenti, 32, of Chester, New Jersey. Bank of America confirmed her death in a statement. “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,” the bank said. According to her LinkedIn profile, Piacenti worked as a vice president in the bank’s business selection and conflicts unit, though the bank did not immediately answer questions about the specifics of her role.
Piacenti earned a law degree from Fordham Law School in 2021, graduating alongside her husband, Frank Piacenti, according to the school, which said in a statement it was heartbroken by her death.
What We Know So Far
Police said the attack began around 4:24 p.m. near West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue, a few blocks from Bank of America’s Manhattan office tower at One Bryant Park. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the suspect, later identified as 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros of Queens, pulled two large knives from a shopping bag and stabbed a 68-year-old man in the abdomen before attacking Piacenti. The two stabbings occurred within about 20 seconds of each other, Tisch said.
The 68-year-old man’s condition was reported as stable shortly after the attack, though an update on his status was not available as of Tuesday, and his identity had not been released. Piacenti was pronounced dead following the attack.
After receiving a 911 call, officers confronted Cisneros, who was still holding the knives. Bystander video showed police surrounding her as she held the blades in front of her. Tisch said officers spent several minutes trying to persuade Cisneros to drop the weapons before using a stun gun on her. She told officers she would not drop anything and would rather kill them, according to Tisch. When the stun gun failed to stop her, Cisneros began advancing toward officers with the knives raised, and two officers shot her. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Tisch said Cisneros had no criminal arrest record in New York City but had prior mental health related encounters with police in 2018 and 2019. “Our officers were confronted with a rapidly evolving threat, with countless innocent people around them,” Tisch said. “In that moment, they did what we train them to do.”
The attack occurred in one of the most heavily trafficked and heavily policed areas of New York, near a police station and just outside the building that hosts the city’s annual New Year’s Eve ball drop. A man was fatally stabbed in the same general area in May.
What Authorities Are Saying
Tisch described the stabbings as a random and unprovoked attack and said the investigation remains ongoing through the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division, the unit that reviews police use of force incidents. She offered condolences to Piacenti’s family, calling her death one life cut far too short by a senseless act of violence.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani addressed the attack at a Monday press briefing, confirming that a woman carrying multiple large knives stabbed two people before police used a Taser and ultimately their firearms.
Why This Matters
The killing adds to a series of high profile violent incidents affecting finance industry professionals in New York in recent years. A senior Blackstone executive was fatally shot last summer when a gunman carrying an assault rifle entered the lobby of a midtown Manhattan office building. In 2022, a 48-year-old Goldman Sachs employee was fatally shot in a random, unprovoked attack while riding a train from Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan. The recurrence of seemingly random violent attacks affecting corporate employees in high profile Manhattan locations is likely to renew concerns among major employers about security for workers traveling through or near heavily trafficked commercial districts.
The attack also comes as New York City’s overall crime statistics have shown improvement. The NYPD reported the fewest shooting incidents, shooting victims and murders recorded in the first seven months of the year, with a new monthly low of 59 shooting incidents in July compared with 75 in July 2025, and major crime down 12.7 percent citywide. Monday’s attack, occurring in broad daylight in one of the city’s most visible tourist areas, is likely to complicate that broader narrative of improving safety even as overall crime statistics continue trending downward.
Cisneros’s documented history of mental health related police encounters, despite having no criminal record, raises familiar questions about how city services identify and support individuals in crisis before violence occurs, a recurring theme in similar attacks involving assailants with prior mental health contacts but no criminal history that would have flagged them for closer monitoring.
What Happens Next
The NYPD’s Force Investigation Division is continuing its review of the officers’ use of force in shooting Cisneros, a standard process following police involved shootings. Authorities have not indicated when that review is expected to conclude.
The condition of the 68-year-old surviving victim remained unclear as of Tuesday, with no updated status released by police or hospital officials. Bank of America and Fordham Law School are both expected to continue supporting Piacenti’s family and colleagues in the aftermath of her death.
Reporting drawn from Fox Business, Reuters and AP
