Months before a woman from Queens launched a deadly knife attack in the heart of Times Square, she posted an eerie warning on social media about “voices telling” people to kill and “stabbing others for no reason.”
On Aug. 31, just steps from one of New York City’s busiest tourist attractions, an ordinary afternoon erupted into violence when Pamela Cisneros, a 49-year-old woman from Queens, pulled two large kitchen knives from a shopping bag and attacked two random people.
The Associated Press (AP) reports the attack happened shortly before 4:30 p.m. near West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, beside an NYPD substation and just outside One Times Square, where huge crowds gather every year to watch the New Year’s Eve ball drop.
According to Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Cisneros first approached 68-year-old Tak Kam after he came out of the subway and was waiting to cross the street with his wife, stabbing him in the right side of the abdomen before continuing toward West 42nd Street.
Seconds later, police say she attacked 32-year-old Erin Piacenti, a Bank of America vice president, also stabbing her in the abdomen.
Both victims were rushed to the hospital, where Piacenti died from her injuries. Kam survived and was listed in stable condition.
‘I would rather kill both of you’
As the incident unfolded, police officers stationed in the heavily patrolled area confronted Cisneros, who was still clutching both knives, and spent several tense minutes trying to persuade her to surrender the weapons.
When she refused to comply, officers deployed a Taser, but it failed to bring her down.
“I’m not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you,” Cisneros threatened, according to Tisch.
Moments later, Cisneros lunged toward police while frantically waving the knives in front of her, prompting two officers to fire their weapons.
After Cisneros fell to the ground, police handcuffed her, rolled her onto her back and provided first aid. She was later pronounced dead.
“This was an extraordinarily dangerous situation unfolding in the heart of Times Square, the crossroads of the world,” Tisch said of the “random and unprovoked” attack, per ABC News.
Cisneros was already known to the NYPD through what Tisch described as a “documented mental health history with the NYPD,” involving previous incidents in 2018 and 2019, although she had no arrest history with the department.
Mayor thanks NYPD
“We know that those families’ lives have been shattered by what took place today, and we will continue to hold them close as the hours and days and weeks continue from this moment,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, according to AP.
Mamdani also praised the officers who confronted Cisneros, although their use of deadly force will undergo the standard investigation required after an NYPD shooting.
“I want to thank the NYPD officers who stepped in and prevented a horrific attack from becoming even worse,” the mayor said during the press briefing. “This is what the men and women of this department do every single day to keep our city safe.”
Killer’s chilling posts surface
In the aftermath of the violence, attention has turned to Cisneros’ Facebook account, where posts from months before the attack contain disturbing references to seemingly random stabbings, hopelessness and people hearing voices telling them to kill.
On Nov. 30, 2025, Cisneros shared her belief that the world was already approaching its final days.
“The current events surrounding you can attest to my previous statement of the end times being present,” she wrote. “There is news of war, pestilence, earthquakes, the diminished love of people to the point of stabbing others for no reason…”
“The enemy of our souls, Satan, knows that his ending is near and would like to take as many souls to hell as possible. This is the reason that some people hear voices to either kill someone or themselves,” she continued in the haunting post.
And years before those posts or the violence that unfolded in Times Square, Cisneros – who claimed Jesus Christ saved her “from the grasps of the devil” – had shared another telling message.
“Always be kind to strangers. You never know what someone is going through.”
Before sharing this story, please let us know what you think about how NYPD handled this incredibly dangerous situation.
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