Published on •Updated
Erin Piacenti, a 32-year-old vice president at Bank of America’s business selection and conflicts unit, has been identified as the person fatally wounded in a seemingly random knife attack in Times Square, news agencies Bloomberg and Reuters reported on Tuesday.
“We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague. She was a valued teammate who will be greatly missed. Our hearts go out to her family and all of her loved ones,” the U.S. banking giant said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
The perpetrator was a 49-year-old woman who stabbed two people and then was fatally shot by police, according to officials. The second victim, a 68-year old man, was wounded and hospitalised.
The incident happened just before 4:30 pm local time on Monday, next to a New York Police Department (NYPD) substation, just outside Times Square, the building that hosts the city’s annual New Year’s Eve ball drop celebration. It is one of the most heavily policed and at the same time busiest spots in all of New York.
The woman from Queens pulled out two knives from a shopping bag and stabbed a man who had just come out of the subway station and was waiting to cross the street with his wife, striking him in the abdomen, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference.
Seconds later, the woman stabbed a 32-year-old woman also in the abdomen, Tisch said. Both victims were taken to the hospital, where the woman died, and the man is in stable condition, according to police.
Police didn’t say whether the victims were tourists visiting the city or residents. Videos posted on social media show at least 10 officers gathered around a woman holding two large kitchen knives.
Officers tried to convince the woman to drop the knives for several minutes before using a Taser, Tisch said. The woman told them, “I’m not dropping anything; I would rather kill both of you,” according to Tisch.
The video shows the Taser not incapacitating her and the woman walking quickly toward the officers while waving the knives in front of her.
Two officers then shot the woman, according to police. In videos posted by eyewitnesses, the woman fell to the ground, where an officer handcuffed her. Officers rolled her onto her back and rendered first aid.
“This was an extraordinarily dangerous situation unfolding in the heart of Times Square, the crossroads of the world,” Tisch said.
The woman has a “documented mental health history with the NYPD,” which includes incidents in 2018 and 2019 but no arrest history with the department, said Commissioner Tisch without adding further details, but ruling out terrorism.
“We know that those families’ lives have been shattered by what took place today, and we will continue to hold them close as the hours and days and weeks continue from this moment,” said Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Both Mamdani and Tisch praised the officers, saying more people could have been hurt or killed if not for their actions.
The NYPD temporarily closed part of 7th Avenue and warned the public to stay away from the area. Police tape cordoned off the area as a large group of law enforcement officers worked nearby.
Violent crime has fallen sharply in the City so far this year, with homicides down 24% and on pace to potentially hit their lowest level in decades. But this is the second killing this year in Times Square. Earlier in May, a man was fatally stabbed in the same area.
Additional sources • AP