Disturbing family secrets of Times Square knifewoman who cops shot dead after she murdered female Bank of America VP
The female attacker who stabbed two people in Times Square was going through a difficult divorce and had been estranged from her daughters for years, according to her shell-shocked relatives.
Pamela Cisneros Lopez, 49, killed Bank of America executive Erin Piacenti, 32, and injured a 68-year-old man during a crazed rampage through the heart of New York City at about 4.30pm on Monday.
Disturbing video footage shows Lopez wearing a pink T-shirt with a cross-body bag, while brandishing two kitchen knives as police attempted to tase her before shooting her dead.
Her brother, Patrick Peralta, 58, told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder about ten years ago, following a bout of postpartum depression after the birth of her second child around a decade before that.
Peralta spoke at their mother’s home in Jackson Heights, Queens, where they grew up and where their relatives have gathered after hearing the news.
The 58-year-old said that they were a tight-knit family, and that Lopez was the youngest of six. She worked as an HR employee and was a daily churchgoer.
A woman could be heard wailing inside the family home as Peralta detailed the struggles his sister had faced over the past few years.
He said Lopez has three daughters aged in their late teens to late twenties. However, the youngest and eldest have been living in Florida with their father and have been estranged from Lopez for years due to her previous mental health issues.
Pamela Cisneros Lopez, 49, was killed on Monday after fatally stabbing Erin Piacenti and injuring an unidentified man. Her shell-shocked brother spoke with the Daily Mail on Tuesday
Erin Piacenti was the vice president of business selection and conflicts at the Bank of America
Lopez, 49, was gunned down after running at officers with the two kitchen knives, as caught in disturbing surveillance footage from Times Square
Lopez’s middle child is non-verbal with severe autism, and lives at a care home in Brooklyn. Peralta said that Lopez had struggled with postpartum depression since her birth, and had tried to bring the children up for years until she could no longer cope.
‘I think she felt like she hadn’t accomplished anything with her life because she was at home with the kids,’ Peralta told the Daily Mail.
Lopez had also been ‘going through a divorce for the past five to eight years,’ and Peralta said he wasn’t sure whether it had been finalized.
‘There was a lot of back and forth’ with her ex-husband, he told the Daily Mail.
Peralta, who works as a surgical technician in the city, said Lopez’s mental health reached a crisis point in 2019, when she attempted suicide.
‘She threw herself on the train tracks at Jamaica station,’ he said. ‘Somebody pulled her off the tracks.’
Peralta said his sister suffered a bruise on her ankle and needed sutures in her head following the ordeal.
However, since then, Lopez had been turning her life around while taking medication for bipolar disorder and had seemed ‘fine’ for about six years, he said.
Her brother, Patrick Peralta, told the Daily Mail the next day that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder about ten years ago, following a bout of postpartum depression
In fact, Lopez had been caring for her mother after she had three heart surgeries, and even organized a large family party for her father’s birthday on August 8, which was the last time Peralta saw her.
‘She seemed good, she seemed fine,’ he told the Daily Mail.
The only warning sign was that Lopez, who lived alone in Woodside, usually ate dinner at her mother’s house every night, but had not turned up for about a week.
On the day of the stabbing, Lopez was supposed to be at work, her brother said.
Peralta said he recognized his sister in footage of the stabbing on the news and called police.
‘It was the worst thing I have ever watched,’ he told the Daily Mail. ‘I had a premonition that it was her and called the police.
‘I don’t know what was going through her head, but I think she wanted to get shot.
‘I don’t know where the rage came from. I was in shock because she was never violent. I’m still numb.’
Crime scene investigators at the New York tourist hotspot on Monday evening
The two knives that police recovered at the scene following the double stabbing
‘She seemed normal the last time I saw her – there were no signs that something like this could happen,’ he added.
‘She was taking medication – she gave herself injections every month. Maybe she didn’t take the last one and started going off track after that.’
He said they ‘grew up together’ in Jackson Heights, and their parents had migrated from Ecuador in the 1970s.
Peralta said his family has been ‘devastated’ by the stabbings, and apologized to the victims’ families.
‘My entire family is so sorry for the two victims,’ he said.
‘We never wish hurt on anybody and we are so, so sorry that happened to them.’
Piacenti has been named as the woman who died in the random attack.
Piacenti alongside her husband, Frank, celebrating their wedding day in August 2024
Bank of America described Piacenti as a ‘valued teammate’ as they extended their condolences to her family and friends
The 32-year-old was a vice president in BofA’s business selection and conflicts unit, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Social media posts indicate that she recently celebrated her second wedding anniversary, having married her husband Frank in August 2024.
The couple lived in a $1.7 million home in Chester, New Jersey.
Lopez stabbed her in the stomach before turning on an unidentified 68-year-old man, who is in hospital recovering.
‘We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague,’ Bank of America said in a statement on Tuesday.
‘She was a valued teammate who will be greatly missed. Our hearts go out to her family and all of her loved ones.’
The New York City mayor said on Monday that a woman carrying multiple knives stabbed two people in Times Square before police used a Taser and fired their weapons.
Zohran Mamdani added at the news conference: ‘I want to thank the NYPD officers who stepped in and prevented a horrific attack from becoming even worse.’
