Who was Pamela Cisneros, the woman shot dead by New York police in Times Square after she killed one person and injured another?
Authorities have ruled out that it was a terrorist attack.
What had been a quiet afternoon in downtown New York, right in Times Square, ended in a real nightmare when a woman pulled two knives from a bag and attacked two people while shouting, “I’m going to kill you!”
This Monday, August 31, at around 4:30 p.m., a 49-year-old woman spread panic among the citizens and tourists of New York who were strolling peacefully through one of its busiest areas: Times Square. The attacker, identified by officers as Pamela Cisneros and a resident of the borough of Queens, shocked everyone when she pulled a knife out of a shopping bag and, without hesitation, attacked two people in the abdomen in just 20 seconds: a 68-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman.
The first was a man who had just come out of the subway and was waiting to cross the street with his wife. Fortunately, he is in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital, according to the New York police. The second victim , a 32-year-old woman, suffered more serious injuries to her abdomen and died at the same hospital .
After the attack, the assailant continued up the street until several officers surrounded her and tried to get her to drop the weapons. However, Cisneros refused and also threatened to attack the police. The officers, seeing their lives in danger, first used stun guns. When they saw that these were not effective, they finally opened fire as the woman moved closer toward them. The assailant was taken to the hospital, where she later died.
The Times Square attacker had mental health problems
At a press conference in Times Square alongside the police commissioner, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said: “I want to thank the officers who intervened and prevented a horrific attack from being even worse.” Tisch added: “Our officers did exactly what they are trained to do.”
For its part, the police have ruled out it being a terrorist attack and stated, in a press release, that Cisneros had “a history of mental health incidents.”
As it was rush hour in New York and in one of its busiest areas at this time of year, social media was flooded with videos of the moment when the police shot the attacker dead.
