Who Was Erin Piacenti? Female Times Square Stabbing Victim Was VP of Bank of America Who Had Just Celebrated Second Wedding Anniversary

A young Bank of America executive was fatally stabbed by a knife-wielding woman in the heart of Times Square before the attacker was shot dead by cops. Erin Piacenti, 32, of Chester, New Jersey, died Monday afternoon after Pamela Cisneros Lopez, 49, stabbed her in the stomach, officials said.

Piacenti worked for Bank of America in New York City as its vice president of business selection and conflicts, sources told The New York Post. Social media posts reviewed by the outlet showed that Piacenti had recently celebrated her second wedding anniversary. Officers eventually stopped Lopez after her stabbing spree, during which she also attacked a 68-year-old man in the stomach.

Young Soul Killed Unnecessarily

The man remains hospitalized in stable condition. Video showed officers using a Taser on Lopez, who was from Queens, as she waved the knives at them. The Taser failed to stop her, and she continued moving toward the officers.

Two gunshots were then heard as police opened fire. Lopez immediately fell to the ground, where officers handcuffed her and began providing first aid.

Before the confrontation with police captured on video, Lopez had reportedly pulled two knives from a shopping bag and stabbed a man who was waiting to cross the street with his wife, police said.

Lopez then allegedly attacked Piacenti, stabbing her in the abdomen. Piacenti later died from her injuries.

Speaking alongside Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Lopez refused to surrender her weapons during the tense confrontation with officers.

According to Tisch, Lopez told police: “I’m not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you.”

Tisch said the standoff unfolded in one of the busiest parts of New York City, where large numbers of people are constantly passing through Times Square.

“This was an extraordinarily dangerous situation unfolding in the heart of Times Square, the crossroads of the world,” she said.

“At any given moment, there are thousands of New Yorkers, commuters, tourists, families, workers moving through these streets.”

Stabber Known to Police

The commissioner also revealed that Lopez was known to the NYPD and had a “documented mental health history.” She had been involved in two incidents with the department, one in 2018 and another in 2019, although neither resulted in an arrest.

Authorities have not said whether the two stabbing victims were New York residents or visitors to the city.

Mamdani and Tisch both credited the responding officers with quickly bringing the dangerous situation to an end, saying their intervention likely prevented the violence from claiming more victims.

The episode was initially treated as a knifepoint robbery, but investigators now believe Lopez may have been emotionally disturbed and have not identified a specific reason for the attacks, ABC 7 reported.

One witness, who filmed part of the confrontation using smart glasses, said Lopez was holding two knives. Recalling what he saw, the witness told PIX11: “She ran down, the cops went by, they surrounded her, talked to her for like five minutes.”

Witness Linda Ruiz said she came across the aftermath of the attacks before police had fully secured the scene.

Ruiz told the Daily News that one man was bleeding heavily from his right leg and desperately calling for assistance. “I saw a guy bleeding profusely from his right leg,” she said. “He was gushing blood, saying, ‘I need help. Help me.'”

Ruiz said she immediately went looking for a police officer nearby, but then noticed another victim lying on the ground.

“I went to get a cop on the corner and there was another lady on the floor,” she said. “She was stabbed in the back or in the chest, I couldn’t tell.”

The woman appeared to be unconscious and covered in blood, Ruiz recalled. Officers attempted to revive her, but she did not respond.

“There was a lot of blood,” Ruiz said. “She wasn’t conscious. The police were trying to resuscitate her, but she wasn’t moving. It was horrible.”

Hassan Abdallah, who runs a fruit cart near the corner of 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, said he saw the aftermath from about two blocks away.

He recalled hearing a woman scream before crowds suddenly began fleeing the area.

“I heard a lady screaming and then people were running like crazy,” Abdallah said. “I went outside [the cart]. I saw an old guy, like 60, Asian. He was standing, holding his back. He got stabbed.”

Abdallah said the man’s wife appeared to be trying to help him while waiting for police to arrive. She initially used a book or pieces of paper to put pressure on the wound before someone handed her a scarf.

Police are continuing to investigate the attack. Tisch said investigators have found no indication that the incident was terrorism-related.