Knife-wielding woman kills 1 in Times Square, shot dead by police
NYC Police say the stabbings were ‘random and unprovoked’ and that the woman had previous mental health problems
One person was killed and another injured after a knife-wielding woman went on a stabbing spree in New York’s Times Square on Monday (August 31), before being shot dead by police.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the deaths in a press conference. He said the injured person is in stable condition.
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New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told The Guardian that the stabbings were “random and unprovoked” and that the woman had previous mental health problems.
She was identified as Pamela Cisneros, a 49-year-old resident of Queens.
Reports quoting Tisch said the woman was carrying two knives when she approached a 68-year-old man at Times Square and stabbed him in the abdomen. After some time, he stabbed a woman in the stomach.
'Police tried to reason with attacker'
When confronted by police, who tried to stop her and convince her to drop her weapons, the woman refused.
“I’m not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you,” she reportedly told the officers.
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While multiple officers tried to subdue Cisneros with stun guns, she continued to move towards them. This is when two officers fired at her.
Both the injured and the attacker were taken to Bellevue hospital, where Cisneros and the female victim were pronounced dead.