A 49-year-old mentally ill woman stabbed two people apparently at random on Monday in New York’s tourist district of Times Square, killing one of them, before being shot dead by police.
Identified as Pamela Cisneros, a resident of Queens, the assailant took two large knives out of a bag from a famous supermarket brand before threatening passers-by in the middle of the afternoon, according to the account given by the New York police chief, Jessica Tisch.
She then appeared in front of a 68-year-old man, whom she stabbed in the abdomen. Twenty seconds later, she attacked a 32-year-old woman, also stabbing her in the stomach.
It is this victim who died, the man is hospitalized in stable condition. Their identities have not been released pending families being notified. The police then quickly intervened and tried to make him drop his weapons.
In images taken by passers-by circulating on social networks, we see a woman in a pink T-shirt standing up to several uniformed officers around her, at times brandishing her two knives in a defiant gesture.
“The officers attempted to speak with the woman for four minutes and repeatedly ordered her to drop the knives, which she refused to do,” continued Jessica Tisch. During the exchange, she told police: “I’m not going to give up. I would rather kill you,” she said again.
“She ran past me on the corner and she had two knives in her hands,” a witness told PIX11 News. He says that shortly after, police officers used an electric shock gun against her. She nevertheless rushed towards them and that’s when they shot her “twice”, he said.
Big puddle of blood
Police confirmed using a taser, to no avail, before using handguns. An AFP journalist who visited the scene after the incident noted a large presence of police and emergency services, as well as a puddle of blood on the ground.
The attacker was known to police for incidents linked to her mental problems. “We have no reason to believe that this is an act of terrorism,” continued the New York police chief.
“This was an extremely dangerous situation, which took place in the heart of Times Square” where “at any given time thousands of New Yorkers, people going to work, tourists, families are moving through these streets,” she insisted.
Present at his side at the time of the press conference, the mayor of the city Zohran Mamdani thanked the police officers who intervened “and prevented this appalling attack from taking on an even more tragic scale”.
