Pamela Cisneros was 49 years old, a mother of three, had studied psychology, and worked for a law firm in New York. To those who knew her, none of that seemed to fit with the scene she was involved in on August 31 in the middle of Times Square.
That day, Cisneros attacked two apparently random people with knives. First, she injured a 68-year-old man and, about 20 seconds later, stabbed Erin Piacenti, a 32-year-old Bank of America executive who had just returned to work after maternity leave. Piacenti died in the hospital.
Afterward, Cisneros confronted police while carrying two knives. The officers repeatedly ordered her to drop them and used a stun gun, but they were unable to stop her. When she advanced toward them with the weapons, two officers opened fire. Cisneros later died in a hospital.
Now, details of her life are beginning to emerge, making what happened even more bewildering.
Her family says she had spent around 12 years dealing with mental health problems. Her brother described a progression from postpartum depression to a possible diagnosis of bipolar disorder, while police confirmed that Cisneros had a documented history of mental health crises.
Her father said that for years he accompanied her to medical appointments and that she received treatment through monthly injections. He believed she was finally stable. But months before the attack, she began refusing his help getting to her appointments.
Even people who knew her described a calm and polite woman, very different from the one seen in the Times Square videos.
Her family is still trying to understand what happened.
And as the investigation continues, Pamela Cisneros’s story leaves a difficult question: what happened in the final months for a woman who seemed to be regaining control of her life to end up at the center of a tragedy in one of New York’s busiest places?