New York City police fatally shot an apparently emotionally disturbed woman after she allegedly stabbed two people in Times Square in a “random and unprovoked” attack, authorities said.
One of the victims, a 32-year-old woman, died at the hospital from her injuries, according to police. The other was transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries and is in stable condition, officials said.
Two knives were recovered from the scene, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. The NYPD also released a photo of the recovered weapons.
The victims were stabbed within 20 seconds of each other Monday afternoon, near 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, according to Tisch.
The first victim, a 68-year-old man, had just exited the subway and was waiting to cross the street with his wife when the suspect pulled two knives from a bag, waved them and then allegedly stabbed him in the abdomen “in what appears to be a random and unprovoked attack,” Tisch said at a press briefing.
The suspect then went up Seventh Avenue toward 42nd Street, where she approached the second victim, who was similarly stabbed in the abdomen in an apparently random, unprovoked attack, Tisch said.
The suspect allegedly then fled north toward the NYPD substation, authorities said. Witnesses flagged down officers who confronted her for four minutes and “gave her numerous commands to drop the knife,” which she refused, Tisch said.
“During the encounter, she told the officers, ‘I’m not dropping anything. I would rather kill both of you.’ She repeated, ‘I will kill you,'” Tisch said.
Officers deployed Tasers before two officers discharged their service weapons, Tisch said.
The suspect, identified by police as 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros of Queens, was pronounced dead at a hospital. She had a “documented mental health history,” Tisch said
Police officials stressed the woman appears emotionally disturbed and the incident is not terror-related.
“I want to thank the NYPD officers who stepped in and prevented a horrific attack from becoming even worse,” NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani said during the press briefing. “This is what the men and women of this department do every single day to keep our city safe.”
The NYPD will conduct an internal investigation and body-worn camera footage will be released to the public, the mayor said.
By ABC News
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