by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
NEW YORK (Worthy News) – New York City police say they have shot and killed a female suspect who allegedly stabbed two people in Times Square on Monday, including one woman who died of her injuries.
Jessica Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, described the stabbings in America’s largest city as “random and unprovoked” acts.
She added they were carried out by a woman with previous mental health problems.
The suspect, identified as 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros of Queens, wielded two knives as she approached a 68-year-old man in Times Square and stabbed him in the abdomen, according to Tisch. Moments later, she stabbed a 32-year-old woman in the stomach.
TIMES SQUARE ATTACK
Police said the two attacks occurred within about 20 seconds Monday afternoon near Seventh Avenue and West 41st and 42nd streets, in the heart of one of the world’s busiest tourist districts. Some 200,000 to 250,000 pedestrians pass through the area on a typical day.
The 68-year-old man had just emerged from the subway with his wife and was waiting to cross the street when Cisneros allegedly removed two large knives from a bag, waved them and attacked him.
Soon after, police confronted Cisneros and tried to stop her. Officers reportedly spoke with her for approximately four minutes but could not convince her to drop her knives.
Tisch, who reviewed body-camera footage of the incident, quoted Cisneros as telling police: “I’m not dropping anything. I would rather kill both of you.”
POLICE SHOOT SUSPECT
Multiple officers tried to subdue Cisneros with stun guns, but she continued to move toward them with the knives. Two officers then fired their service weapons at Cisneros.
“This was an extraordinarily dangerous situation unfolding in the heart of Times Square, the crossroads of the world,” Tisch recalled. “At any given moment, there are thousands of New Yorkers, commuters, tourists, families, workers moving through these streets.”
“Our officers were confronted with a rapidly evolving threat with countless innocent people around them,” she added. “In that moment, they did what we trained them to do.”
The confrontation and shooting were captured on police body cameras, according to Tisch.
WOMAN DIES OF INJURIES
All three people — Cisneros and the two stabbing victims — were taken to Bellevue Hospital, where Cisneros and the 32-year-old female victim were pronounced dead. The 68-year-old man was in stable condition.
Both Tisch and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani defended the officers’ use of lethal force, though the shooting will be investigated under standard procedures for police shootings in New York.
“I want to thank the NYPD officers who stepped in and prevented a horrific attack from becoming even worse,” Mamdani said.
Police noted that Cisneros had a documented history of mental health-related encounters with the New York Police Department in 2018 and 2019 but had no previous arrest record.
SECOND FATAL STABBING
Authorities indicated there was no evidence that the attack was related to terrorism.
It was the second fatal stabbing reported in Times Square this year. In May, 39-year-old Leonides Baez was stabbed to death near West 43rd Street, just steps from the bustling square.
A 17-year-old suspect was later charged with murder. Police sources said the teenager claimed Baez had been selected at random as part of a social-media trend targeting unhoused people or those perceived as drug users.
Still, authorities say New York City has experienced a “sharp decline” in murders and shootings this year.
NEW YORK CRIME FIGURES
NYPD figures show 149 murders during the first seven months of 2026, the lowest number recorded for that period, while shooting incidents also reached a record low.
However, the figures reveal a different trend for hate crimes. Confirmed hate crimes rose 9.4 percent during the same period, from 329 last year to 360 this year.
More than half involved Jewish victims. Police recorded 205 confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes through July, up 8.5 percent from 189 during the same period in 2025. New York City is home to an estimated 960,000 Jews, the largest Jewish population of any city worldwide.
In July alone, confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes increased by more than 53 percent compared with the same month last year.
ANTISEMITIC ATTACKS RISE
The figures followed several high-profile incidents, including an August 14 attack during Shabbat services at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue, where prosecutors say a man assaulted a congregant and a security guard and damaged religious property.
The suspect, 46-year-old Larry Montes, was later charged with federal hate crimes.
Police stressed there was no indication that Monday’s Times Square attack was motivated by religious, racial or other bias.
Authorities continued investigating what prompted Cisneros to carry out the apparently random attacks.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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