Bank of America Executive Killed in Random Times Square Stabbing Laid to Rest as Hundreds Mourn Young Mom

MENDHAM BOROUGH, N.J. — Family, friends and colleagues gathered Wednesday to say goodbye to Erin Guiltinan Piacenti, the Bank of America executive fatally stabbed in what authorities described as a random attack in New York City’s Times Square. Hundreds of mourners came through over two days to honor her life and support her grieving family.

Piacenti, 32, of Chester, New Jersey, had only recently returned to work following maternity leave after the birth of her first child. Police said she and another pedestrian were stabbed on Seventh Avenue by a woman with a documented history of mental illness.

The eldest of five children, Piacenti was remembered by her family as accomplished, driven and deeply loved. Her death announcement noted that she earned degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Fordham University School of Law.

While at the University of Pennsylvania, she served as music director for Dischord A Cappella, according to her obituary. She later met her husband, Frank Piacenti, while attending law school. The couple married in 2024 and welcomed their daughter, Madison, in March.

After completing her legal studies, Piacenti began her career at Davis Polk & Wardwell, a prominent international law firm based in Manhattan, before moving into finance as a vice president at Bank of America.

According to her family, Piacenti and her husband had returned just one day earlier from a vacation marking their second wedding anniversary before the deadly Times Square attack.

Aug. 31 was also her first day back from maternity leave, according to the organizer of a GoFundMe campaign that has raised nearly $1 million as of Tuesday for 6-month-old Madison.

At a wake Tuesday evening, hundreds of mourners lined up outside the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Mendham Borough, New Jersey. They came and left in small groups between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. The church’s parking lot full much of the evening, and local police were coordinating traffic.

A funeral Mass was held Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET at the same church.

The family is asking for donations to the GoFundMe in lieu of flowers.

The Times Square attack:

Just before 4:30 p.m. Aug. 31, Piacenti was stabbed in the abdomen in New York’s Times Square, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. The injury proved fatal.

Speaking with reporters on the evening of the murder, Tisch identified the suspect as 49-year-old Queens resident Pamela Cisneros.

Just 20 seconds before the attack on Piacenti, Cisneros stabbed a 68-year-old man who was waiting at a crosswalk with his wife, Tisch said, calling the stabbings “random and unprovoked.” He survived and was hospitalized in stable condition, according to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

“I ask New Yorkers to join me in holding the victim in our thoughts and wishing them a full recovery,” he said at a news briefing. “I want to thank the NYPD officers who stepped in and prevented a horrific attack from becoming even worse.”

A routine investigation into the officers’ conduct would be conducted, he said, and the city will release bodycam footage.

Part of a subsequent standoff with police was captured on video. The woman identified as Cisneros can be seen holding two kitchen knives. Police told her repeatedly to drop the weapons.

“I’m not dropping anything,” she told the officers, according to Tisch. “I would rather kill both of you. I will kill you.”

NYPD officers attempted to stop her with stun guns, which failed to stop her. As she approached officers while waving the knives, they opened fire.

The incident caused road closures on Seventh Avenue between 42nd and 47th streets.

Cisneros was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital. Tisch said Cisneros had a documented history of mental health issues that led to interactions with the NYPD in 2018 and 2019 but no prior arrests.

“Tonight, our thoughts are, of course, with the victims of this horrific attack and their families,” Tisch told reporters near the scene last week. “One life cut far too short by a senseless act of violence.”