By JOE HUTCHISON, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER and SHAWN COHEN, US SENIOR REPORTER and LAURA PARNABY, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
Published: 14:19 BST, 1 September 2026 | Updated: 17:00 BST, 1 September 2026
A young Bank of America executive died after being stabbed by a knife-wielding woman in the middle of Times Square, who was later gunned down by police.
Erin Piacenti, 32, of Chester in the Garden State, died after being slashed in the stomach by Pamela Cisneros Lopez, 49, officials said.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Piacenti worked as Bank of America's vice president of business selection and conflicts.
Social media posts also indicate that she 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 stabbing spree, in which she also knifed a 68-year-old man in the stomach. He remains in hospital in a stable condition.
Footage showed officers firing a taser at Lopez, from Queens, as she refused to back down and waved the two kitchen knives at them.
Police then shot the woman, and she immediately fell to the ground where she was handcuffed and given first aid.
Prior to the video, Lopez had pulled two knives from a shopping bag and stabbed the man who was waiting to cross the street with his wife, police said.
Lopez is then said to have stabbed Piacenti in the abdomen, who died from her injuries.
Erin Piacenti, 32, of Chester in the Garden State, died on Monday afternoon after being fatally stabbed
Pamela Cisneros Lopez, 49, was fatally gunned down after running at officers with the two kitchen knives
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.
