The NYPD has released body camera footage showing officers spending roughly four minutes trying to talk down a woman before fatally shooting her outside One Times Square last week, following a stabbing attack that killed a New Jersey mother and wounded a 68-year-old man.
The footage, released Friday, shows officers surrounding 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros, repeatedly ordering her to drop two knives she was holding while attempting to calm her down. Cisneros told officers she was “tired of this world” and that they would have to kill her.
“There’s a lot to live for,” one officer told her. “The world is hard. Especially New York City. Trust me, we all suffer. But this is not the way.”
When an officer asked whether she believed in God, Cisneros replied, “No. Not anymore.”
“You’re going to have to kill me,” Cisneros told officers. Moments later she added, “Either that or I’m going to kill all of you.”
Officers continued urging her to “drop the knife” and “just breathe” as she refused to comply. Around 4:29 p.m., Cisneros began waving both knives and officers deployed Tasers. When the Tasers failed to stop her and she advanced toward officers with the blades pointed at them, police opened fire.
Cisneros was struck and taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Officers recovered both knives at the scene.
The Attacks Leading to the Standoff
Authorities said the confrontation followed a string of stabbings minutes earlier. Cisneros allegedly stabbed a 68-year-old man near West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, seriously injuring him. She then walked north carrying a knife in each hand and, about 20 seconds later near West 42nd Street, fatally stabbed 32-year-old Erin Piacenti of Chester, New Jersey.
Transit officers encountered Cisneros outside One Times Square roughly a minute after that attack and began ordering her to drop the knives while trying to engage her in conversation. Additional officers arrived and joined the de-escalation effort before the shooting.
Piacenti, a Bank of America executive and Fordham Law graduate, had returned to work just days earlier after five months of maternity leave caring for her newborn daughter. She died from her injuries. The 68-year-old man survived after suffering a stab wound to the abdomen.
Police have described the attacks as random and unprovoked. The NYPD said Cisneros had documented mental health-related encounters with the department in 2018 and 2019 but no prior arrest record, and said there was no indication the attack was related to terrorism.
The department’s Force Investigation Division continues to investigate the shooting before the case is presented to the NYPD’s Use of Force Review Board.
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