Erin Piacenti, 32, a Bank of America vice president from Chester, New Jersey, was randomly stabbed to death during a knife rampage in Times Square, New York City, on Monday afternoon.
Piacenti worked as Vice President for Business Selection and Conflicts at Bank of America, whose headquarters is about a block from where she was killed. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where she sang with Penn Dischord, an a cappella group. Social media posts show her walking down the aisle with her husband, Frank, in August 2024, and the couple had recently celebrated their second wedding anniversary.
Police said Pamela Cisneros, 49, of Queens, a woman with a history of mental illness, pulled two kitchen knives from a Target bag and began attacking strangers. 
At about 4:24 p.m., Cisneros allegedly st@bbed a 68-year-old man in the abdomen while he was waiting to cross W. 41st St. near Seventh Ave. with his wife. He survived.
Within 20 seconds, she headed north to W. 42nd St. and allegedly stabbed Piacenti in the abdomen, killing her.
Cisneros was later surrounded by police near an NYPD substation by W. 43rd St. During a tense four-minute standoff, she reportedly told officers, “I’m not dropping anything. I would rather kill both of you. I will kill you,” according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Police tried to subdue her with a Taser before officers opened fire, killing her. Cellphone videos filmed by bystanders showed Cisneros swinging the knives and charging at officers, with pops and an electrical current heard before the gunshots.
