Dramatic footage captured the tense moment a knife-wielding woman accused of stabbing two people in Times Square rushed toward NYPD officers moments after issuing a chilling threat.
The video shows Pamela Cisneros, 49, surrounded by police while brandishing two large knives following what authorities described as a frightening, random attack Monday afternoon that left one woman dead and a man injured.
“I’m not dropping anything; I would rather kill both of you. I will kill you,” Cisneros told the officers, according to the footage.
Several officers then tried to use Tasers to subdue her, but the attempts did not bring her down, the video shows.
Seconds later, Cisneros raised her arms and charged at the officers with knives gripped in both hands.
Two officers fired their weapons, striking Cisneros, who police said had a known history of mental illness documented by the department.
The footage then shows Cisneros on the ground, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Officers quickly handcuffed her before beginning life-saving measures at the scene.
The Queens native was later pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.
Cops spoke to Cisneros for about four minutes and gave her “numerous commands” to drop the knives, but she refused, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference on Monday night.
The stabbings and shooting all happened within a roughly 20-minute window — and sent terrified tourists and commuters running for safety.
Cisneros had pulled two knives out of a red Target bag and stabbed the first victim, a 68-year-old man, in the abdomen as he exited the subway on West 41st Street and was waiting to cross the street, Tisch said.
The knife-wielding woman then continued up to 42nd Street and fatally stabbed a 32-year-old woman in the abdomen in an “unprovoked attack,” the commissioner told reporters.
A motive is not yet known; however, the frightening incident is not believed to be terrorism-related.
“Our officers were confronted with a rapidly evolving threat with countless innocent people around them. In that moment, they did what we trained them to do,” Tisch said.
