Police fatally shoot Times Square stabbing suspect

New York City police fatally shot a knife-wielding woman near Times Square on Monday after authorities said she stabbed two people in attacks described as “random and unprovoked,” killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring a 68-year-old man.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said officers opened fire after the suspect, identified by The Guardian as 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros of Queens, threatened officers, refused to drop two knives and advanced toward them. Multiple officers first tried to subdue her with stun guns, but Tisch said they were ineffective.

“This was an extraordinarily dangerous situation unfolding in the heart of Times Square, the crossroads of the world at any given moment,” Tisch told reporters.

The stabbings happened Monday afternoon about 20 seconds apart, according to Tisch. NBC News reported that the first victim was a 32-year-old woman stabbed in the abdomen, who later died at a local hospital, and that the second victim was a 68-year-old man who had just exited the subway and was waiting to cross the street with his wife when he was stabbed. The Guardian, citing Tisch, reported the man was stabbed first in the abdomen and that moments later Cisneros stabbed the woman in the stomach.

Both victims and the suspect were taken to Bellevue Hospital, according to The Guardian. Cisneros and the female victim were pronounced dead there, while the man remained alive and in stable condition.

Authorities said a witness saw the suspect remove two knives from a red shopping bag before approaching one of the victims. Soon after the stabbings, officers confronted her and tried to get her to drop the weapons. The Guardian reported that officers spoke with Cisneros for approximately four minutes before the shooting.

Tisch, who said she reviewed body camera footage of the encounter, said Cisneros told officers: “I’m not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you.”

Video shared on social media showed a woman surrounded by officers as the sound of a stun gun and a series of gunshots could be heard. The video showed the woman moving toward officers while waving something before falling to the ground. Tisch said the shooting was also captured on police body cameras.

Two officers fired their service weapons, according to The Guardian. The shooting will be investigated, which authorities said is standard for officer-involved shootings in New York.

Tisch said the suspect had no criminal record but had a documented mental health history with the police department. She described the attacks as unprovoked and said the officers intervened as the situation unfolded in one of the city’s busiest areas.

“I want to thank the NYPD officers who stepped in and prevented a horrific attack from becoming even worse,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, according to The Guardian.

Both Tisch and Mamdani defended the officers’ use of lethal force, The Guardian reported.