A 49-year-old Queens woman was fatally shot by police in Times Square after authorities said she carried out a random double stabbing, killing one person and injuring another, before charging at officers while armed with two large knives.
Pamela Cisneros Lopez was shot Monday afternoon after police said she ran toward officers holding two kitchen knives in the aftermath of the attack.
Disturbing video shared on social media appeared to show officers deploying a Taser as Lopez waved the blades, but the shock did not stop her from moving toward them.
Moments later, two gunshots were heard and Lopez collapsed to the pavement. Officers then handcuffed her and began providing first aid at the scene.
Before the confrontation captured on video, police said Lopez pulled two knives from a shopping bag and stabbed a 68-year-old man who had been waiting with his wife to cross the street.
The man suffered an abdominal stab wound and was later listed in stable condition, officials said.
Investigators said Lopez then stabbed a 32-year-old woman in the abdomen. The woman later died from her injuries.
Speaking at a press conference with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Lopez refused commands during a brief standoff, telling officers: “I’m not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you.”
Pamela Cisneros Lopez, 49, was fatally gunned down after running at officers with the two kitchen knives
Footage showed officers hitting Lopez with a taser as she waved the blades at them, but it was not enough to stop her running at them
Tisch told reporters: ‘This was an extraordinarily dangerous situation unfolding in the heart of Times Square, the crossroads of the world.
‘At any given moment, there are 1,000s of New Yorkers, commuters, tourists, families, workers moving through these streets.’
She added that Lopez has a ‘documented mental health history’ with the department which included two incidents in 2018 and 2019 but she was never arrested.
Police have yet to confirm whether the victims were tourists visiting the city, or are residents.
Both Tisch and Mayor Mamdani praised the officers, saying more people could have been hurt or killed if not for their actions.
The incident had initially been reported as a knifepoint robbery, but officers believe the emotionally-disturbed woman had no clear motive for the attack, ABC 7 reports.
A witness recorded the moment with his smart glasses and described Lopez as being armed with two knives. They told PIX11: ‘She ran down, the cops went by, they surrounded her, talked to her for like five minutes.’
Police released an image of the two knives recovered at the scene following the double stabbing
Officers are seen here investigating the scene on Monday night in the middle of Times Square
Witness Linda Ruiz also shared what she saw in the moments before police arrived on scene.
‘I saw a guy bleeding profusely from his right leg,’ she told the Daily News. ‘He was gushing blood, saying “I need help. Help me.”‘
‘I went to get a cop on the corner and there was another lady on the floor,’ Ruiz continued. ‘She was stabbed in the back or in the chest, I couldn’t tell.
‘There was a lot of blood,’ Ruiz noted. ‘She wasn’t conscious. The police were trying to resuscitate her, but she wasn’t moving. It was horrible.’
Hassan Abdallah, who works at a fruit cart stand on 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, said he watched as a woman tended to the male stabbing victim, who appeared to be her husband.
‘I heard a lady screaming and then people were running like crazy,’ he recounted. ‘I went outside [the cart]. I saw an old guy, like 60, Asian. He was standing, holding his back. He got stabbed.
‘His wife was trying to stop the bleeding. She was using a book or some paper, then someone gave her a scarf. I gave him a paper towel. His wife told him to lay on the floor.’
Police are investigating. Tisch said there was no evidence suggesting it was a terrorist attack.
