The mother of Pamela Cisneros, the 49-year-old Queens woman fatally shot by NYPD officers after stabbing Bank of America executive Erin Piacenti, 32, and 68-year-old Tak Kam Monday in Times Square, is questioning why police didn’t physically restrain her daughter instead of opening fire. Cisneros’ brother says she had a history of bipolar disorder but had shown no signs of violence in recent years.
Pamela Cisneros’ mother is speaking out, and her question is a simple one: why didn’t police just grab her daughter? The mother of the Queens woman who killed a new mom and seriously wounded an elderly man in a terrifying Times Square stabbing spree is asking why officers didn’t simply restrain her daughter rather than fatally shoot her as she charged at them with two knives.
A Mother’s Question
“There were so many police… why didn’t they grab her by the arm?” Cisneros’ mother, who did not give her name, asked Fox 5 News in Spanish.
Cell phone video from the confrontation shows Cisneros surrounded by police, threatening to kill them while holding a large knife in each hand. NYPD officers attempted to deploy tasers, but they proved ineffective. Cisneros then rushed at the officers while waving the knives, prompting two of them to open fire, according to the footage. She was later pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.
“I Don’t Know What Happened”
Cisneros’ brother, 59-year-old Patrick Peralta, told The Post Tuesday that his sister had bipolar disorder but had been in treatment in recent years and “never showed any aggressiveness.”
“I don’t know what happened,” Peralta said. He added that Cisneros had found stability through medication in recent years and had reported feeling “fine” as recently as Saturday — just two days before the attack.
Cisneros, of Queens, had a documented mental health history with police, including a prior suicide attempt. Records show she first drew police attention in December 2018, when she was reported to be belligerent, intoxicated, and screaming along Lexington Avenue, according to sources. In March 2019, she attempted to take her own life by jumping in front of an E train in Queens.
Court records show her marriage began unraveling around that same period. Her husband filed for divorce in Hillsborough County, Florida, in 2020, and the divorce was finalized last year.
How the Attack Unfolded
The stabbings and the shooting that followed all happened within a roughly 20-minute window beginning around 4:30 p.m. Monday, sending panicked tourists and commuters running for safety through one of the busiest intersections in the world.
Police say Cisneros pulled two knives from a red Target bag and stabbed her first victim, 68-year-old Tak Kam of Rhode Island, in the abdomen as he exited the subway on West 41st Street and waited to cross the street. She then continued up to 42nd Street, where she fatally stabbed Erin Piacenti moments later.
Remembering Erin Piacenti
Piacenti, a vice president at Bank of America, had just returned from maternity leave. Just four days before her death, she had posted a photo online, smiling broadly while holding her infant daughter alongside her husband, writing in the caption about how happy she was.
The timing made her death land with particular weight. Piacenti’s baby had recently been baptized, and she and her husband — whose second wedding anniversary they had just celebrated — had been using her time off to travel as a family.
The Broader Debate Over Police Use of Force
Pamela Cisneros’ mother is far from alone in raising questions about how the standoff ended. Her comments echo a debate that resurfaces after nearly every fatal police shooting involving a person in mental health crisis: whether officers had non-lethal options available, and whether more could have been done to de-escalate before shots were fired.
Law enforcement experts note that officers are trained to assess threats in real time, often within seconds, and that a person charging with two knives after ignoring taser deployment presents an immediate danger that can leave little room for physical restraint. Still, for a grieving mother watching video of her daughter’s final moments, that explanation offers little comfort.
The NYPD has not yet released a detailed account of its use-of-force review in the Cisneros case, and it remains unclear whether body camera footage from the responding officers will be made public. As with most officer-involved shootings, an internal review is expected to examine whether departmental policy was followed throughout the encounter.
For now, Pamela Cisneros’ mother’s question — why didn’t they just grab her — remains unanswered by police, even as the city continues to process the loss of Erin Piacenti and the injuries suffered by Tak Kam.
