A Bank of America executive has been named as the victim killed in a “random and unprovoked” stabbing in New York City’s busy Times Square.
Erin Piacenti, 32, was one of two people stabbed Monday afternoon in the tourist and theater hub, which is located a few blocks from Bank of America’s office tower in New York.
Piacenti died of her injuries and a second person, a 68-year-old man, was hospitalized after the attack.
“We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague,” Bank of America said in a statement.
Piacenti was a vice president for business selection and conflicts at the bank, according to New York Daily News. She had earned a law degree from Fordham Law School and graduated in 2021 alongside her husband, Frank Piacenti, according to the school.
The couple had recently celebrated their two-year wedding anniversary.
Fordham Law said in a statement it was heartbroken by her death.
The other victim’s identity hasn’t been released and no update on his condition was immediately available.
Police identified the attacker Tuesday as Pamela Cisneros, 49, of Queens. Officers shot and killed her after the stabbing. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the woman had mental-health-related encounters with police in 2018 and 2019 but had no arrest record in New York City.
The attack happened in one of the busiest and most heavily policed areas in New York — next to a police station and just outside the building that hosts the city’s annual New Year’s Eve ball drop celebration. A man was fatally stabbed in the same area in May.
Cisneros pulled two knives from a shopping bag, stabbed the man, and then attacked Piacenti, Tisch said at a news conference Monday.
Bystander videos recorded police gathering around Cisneros as she held two large knives in front of her. Then, as they used a stun gun on her, she waved the knives and walked quickly toward the officers, the video showed.
Tisch said officers tried to persuade Cisneros to drop the knives for several minutes before they used the stun gun. She told them she wouldn’t drop anything and “would rather kill” the officers, according to Tisch.
Two officers then shot Cisneros, according to police.