The mother of a Queens woman fatally shot by police after a deadly stabbing rampage in Times Square is questioning why officers did not physically subdue her daughter instead of opening fire.
Pamela Cisneros, 49, was killed Monday afternoon after she charged at NYPD officers with a knife in each hand, moments after she had stabbed two strangers in an unprovoked 20-minute attack that began around 4:30 p.m. Her mother, who did not give her name, spoke to Fox 5 News in Spanish about the fatal confrontation.
“There were so many police… why didn’t they grab her by the arm?” she asked.
Cisneros first attacked Tak Kam, 68, a father from Rhode Island, stabbing him in the abdomen as he exited the subway on West 41st Street and waited to cross the street, police said. She had pulled two knives from a red Target bag. Seconds later, she continued to 42nd Street and fatally stabbed Erin Piacenti, 32, a Bank of America vice president who had recently returned from maternity leave.
The slain new mom had posted a touching photo just four days before her murder, smiling broadly while holding her infant and standing with her husband. She wrote in the caption how happy she was. The baby had recently been baptized, and Piacenti and her husband, whom she had just celebrated her second wedding anniversary with, had been taking time off to travel.
Cell phone video showed Cisneros surrounded by police and threatening to kill them while wielding a large knife in each hand. NYPD officers attempted to deploy tasers, but they were ineffective. She then rushed at them while waving the knives, prompting two officers to open fire, the dramatic footage shows.
Cisneros, a mother of three, was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.
Her brother, Patrick Peralta, 59, described her to The Post on Tuesday as suffering from bipolar disorder. He said she had been receiving treatment in recent years and “never showed any aggressiveness.”
“I don’t know what happened,” Peralta said, adding his sister had found some stability through medication in recent years and reported feeling “fine” as recently as Saturday.
Cisneros had a documented mental health history with police, including a suicide attempt. She drew NYPD attention in December 2018 when she was belligerent, intoxicated and screaming along Lexington Avenue, sources said. She then tried to kill herself in March 2019 by jumping in front of an E train in Queens, sources said.
Court records show Cisneros’ marriage fell apart around this time, with her husband filing for divorce in Hillsborough County, Florida, during 2020. The divorce was finalized last year.
Kam survived the attack but was seriously wounded. The unprovoked stabbings and subsequent shooting sent panicked tourists and commuters running for safety in the heart of Manhattan’s busiest tourist district.
Peralta’s account of his sister’s recent stability stands in sharp contrast to the violence that unfolded in the crowded intersection, leaving one family shattered and another searching for answers about how a woman they described as medicated and calm could have carried out such an attack.
Piacenti’s killing has drawn particular attention to the random brutality of the assault, given her status as a new mother who had just begun to build her family. Her social media posts in the days before her death showed a woman embracing motherhood and celebrating milestones with her husband and child.
The NYPD has not publicly addressed the mother’s criticism of the tactical response to her daughter’s knife charge.