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The father of the woman who was shot dead by police after a fatal stabbing has spoken out.
The now-deceased woman’s father expressed shock at the incident, saying he could not comprehend how the violence happened.
Police fatally shot Pamela Cisneros after they were informed the suspect had stabbed two people in an unprovoked attack, eventually killing one.
Cisneros refused to drop her knives moments before she was shot dead.
Before she was killed, she appeared to approach the officers in a threatening manner while wielding the knives.
Her father, Mario Cisneros, told EyeWitness News that the suspect was being given medication injections each month due to mental illness.
"I knew my daughter very well but I didn't know what was going on with her. What I do know is she was getting injections," he said.
According to Mario Cisneros, he had seen his daughter a week before she carried out the deadly attack, and she seemed fine at the time. He said she was not a violent individual.
"We don't understand because the situation reversed," Cisneros said.
Authorities said the woman fatally stabbed 32-year-old mother Erin Piacenti, a vice president for Bank of America, while she was on her way back home from work.
Piacenti had reportedly just celebrated her second wedding anniversary and was going back home to Chester, New Jersey, when the attack took place.
In a statement, Bank of America said: "We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague. She was a valued teammate who will be greatly missed."
According to police, Cisneros also attacked a 68-year-old man from Rhode Island, who survived a stab wound in his abdomen. He and his wife had been visiting New York to see their son, and he was about to cross West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue when the woman attacked him. He has since been discharged from the hospital.
A neighbor of his has since spoken out about the ordeal and the impact it has had on the community.
"To just find out that something that horrible could happen to somebody that close to you just makes the community feel vulnerable," the neighbor said.
Cisneros had been in hospital multiple times over the years due to her mental health, police said.
Back in 2018, officers were sent on a job involving Cisneros acting aggressively in a hotel in Manhattan. The following year, she threw herself onto subway tracks in what is believed to have been a suicide attempt.
Her father told EyeWitness News that her daughter began struggling after one of her children was born, potentially suffering from postpartum depression.
"No, this was a situation, how do you say, it's in the hands of God. What she did. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't click," Cisneros said.
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