A Bank of America vice president was killed in a stabbing in New York City’s Times Square on Monday after a woman armed with two kitchen knives allegedly attacked two people. According to the police, the attack took place in the busy Midtown Manhattan area, which they described as a random and unprovoked incident.According to Reuters, the victim, 32-year-old Erin Piacenti, was identified by the New York Police Department and confirmed by Bank of America in an internal memo. Piacenti was a vice president in the bank’s Business Selection and Conflicts unit and had joined the company around 18 months ago.The stabbing took place at around 4.24pm ET near West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue, one of the busiest stretches of Times Square. Emergency vehicles flooded the area as police responded to the attack, bringing parts of the tourist district to a standstill.NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch said the attack appeared to be random and unprovoked. Police said officers arriving at the scene encountered Pamela Cisneros, 49, who was brandishing two large knives and advancing towards them. Officers shot Cisneros, who was later pronounced dead.A 68-year-old man was also stabbed in the incident and remained in stable condition, according to the NYPD. Tisch said Cisneros had a documented mental health history.Bank of America confirmed the death of a staff member and expressed its condolences to Piacenti’s family.“We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague. She was a valued teammate who will be greatly missed. Our hearts go out to her family and all of her loved ones,” the bank said in an emailed statement as per the report.Matthew Koder, Bank of America’s president of Global Corporate & Investment Banking, described Piacenti as a “cherished teammate and friend” in an internal memo.“Erin was a valued member of the Business Selection and Conflicts team, having joined the bank 18 months ago,” Koder wrote. “Her loss is being felt deeply by many.”Koder added that the bank’s security teams were “fully engaged in supporting the police investigation here, and in addressing the ongoing safety and security of our offices and teammates.”Bank of America’s Manhattan office is located close to Times Square at One Bryant Park.The incident comes amid heightened attention to violent attacks involving prominent corporate figures in Manhattan. Last year, a senior Blackstone executive was killed after a gunman carrying an assault rifle entered a Midtown office building and opened fire.In 2022, a Goldman Sachs employee was fatally shot in a random, unprovoked attack while travelling on a train from Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan. UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was also shot dead outside a Manhattan hotel in 2024 in what authorities described as a premeditated assassination. Luigi Mangione admitted in court last month that he fatally shot Thompson.Despite the high-profile cases, recent NYPD data showed that crime in New York City has been declining. The department said last month that the city recorded its lowest number of shooting incidents, shooting victims and murders on record for both the first seven months of 2026 and July.
