A young Bank of America executive has died after being st@bbed by a kn!fe-wielding woman in the middle of Times Square, who was later gunned down by police.
Erin Piacenti, 32, of Chester in the Garden State, d!ed after being slashed in the stomach by Pamela Cisneros Lopez, 49, officials said.
Piacenti worked as Bank of America’s vice president of business selection and conflicts, and had recently celebrated her second wedding anniversary after marrying her husband Frank in August of 2024.
Lopez was finally stopped by officers after the random st@bbing spree, in which she also stabbed a 68-year-old man in the stomach. He remains in the hospital in stable condition.
According to Police, Lopez pulled two knives from a shopping bag and stabbed the man who was waiting to cross the street with his wife.
She is then said to have stabbed Piacenti in the abdomen, who died from her injuries.
At a press conference alongside Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Lopez had told officers during a brief standoff: ‘I’m not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you.’
Tisch told reporters: ‘This was an extraordinarily dangerous situation unfolding in the heart of Times Square, the crossroads of the world.
‘At any given moment, there are thousands of New Yorkers, commuters, tourists, families, workers moving through these streets.’
She added that Lopez has a ‘documented mental health history’ with the department, which included two incidents in 2018 and 2019, but she was never arrested.
Police have yet to confirm whether the victims were tourists visiting the city or are residents.
Both Tisch and Mayor Mamdani praised the officers, saying more people could have been hurt or killed if not for their actions.
The incident had initially been reported as a knifepoint robbery, but officers believe the emotionally disturbed woman had no clear motive for the attack, ABC 7 reports.
