US5 min(s) read
The brother of the woman who fatally stabbed two people in a random Times Square attack has broken his silence.
Pamela Cisneros, 49, of Queens, was shot dead by police on Monday (August 31), after attacking two strangers with kitchen knives in what authorities described as "random and unprovoked" stabbings.
Her brother, Patrick Peralta, 59, said Cisneros had bipolar disorder and had previously attempted to take her own life before the attack.
However, he said his sister had appeared more stable in recent years while receiving treatment and had told her family she was "fine" as recently as Saturday.
"She never showed any aggressiveness or being violent. I don’t know what happened," Peralta told The New York Post.
Peralta last saw his sister in person on August 10 while celebrating their stepfather's birthday.
The next time he saw her was on television following Monday's attack.
Peralta said he had initially dismissed coverage of the incident as "typical New York c**p" before photos from the confrontation made him realize his sister was involved.
"That’s when I found out, then I was concerned. I was hoping it wasn’t her," he recalled.
Police said Cisneros was carrying two kitchen knives in a red Target bag when she stabbed 68-year-old Tak Kam of Rhode Island in the abdomen near West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue.
Cisneros then walked approximately one block before stabbing Erin Piacenti, 32, a Bank of America executive from New Jersey, in the abdomen. Piacenti later died.
Police tracked Cisneros down about a block away. They spent approximately four minutes trying to persuade her to put down the knives, with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch saying Cisneros told officers: "I’m not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you."
Video of the confrontation showed officers unsuccessfully trying to use stun guns on Cisneros as she moved her arms while holding a knife in each hand.
Police said she continued approaching officers before two of them opened fire.
Cisneros, Piacenti, and Kam were taken to Bellevue Hospital, where Cisneros and Piacenti were pronounced dead. Kam survived and was reported to be in stable condition.
Law enforcement has stressed that the attack was not terror-related.
Peralta said his sister had attempted suicide several years earlier and had been diagnosed with a mental health condition. He also said she experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her second child.
"I think bipolar, but I don’t know what else was going on," he said, adding that Cisneros had been receiving monthly injections as part of her treatment.
Peralta speculated that she may have stopped receiving the medication before the attack: "I think maybe she stopped the injection she was getting, and that caused her to act the way she was."
The outlet reported that Cisneros had previously come to the NYPD’s attention in December 2018, when she was allegedly intoxicated, screaming, and belligerent on Lexington Avenue.
In March 2019, she attempted suicide by jumping in front of an E train in Queens, according to sources.
Sources also said Cisneros had criminal encounters with police in Arizona, California, and Florida, although details of those cases could not be verified.
Court records show her husband filed for divorce in Hillsborough County, Florida, in 2020. The sealed case concluded in 2025.
Peralta said his sister had three daughters. Two live in Florida with their father, while another daughter, who is autistic, lives in a Brooklyn care home.
A neighbor who had known Cisneros for decades expressed disbelief at what happened.
"She was an excellent woman. I don’t know what happened with her," they said. "I’ve known her since she was born."
Social media posts from Cisneros also suggest that she had turned to religion over the past year.
In a Facebook post dated November 30, 2025, she reportedly wrote: "The current events surrounding you can attest to my previous statement of the end times being present."
A month later, she asked: “Regardless of the circumstance in your life, why do people still feel empty in their spirit and eventually surrender to hopelessness?” and said help could be found in God.
In another post, she made an unsettling reference to apparently random stabbings.
"There is news of war, pestilence, earthquakes, the disminished love of people to the point of stabbing others for no reason, sex slavery in this country and around the globe, widespread drug use, persecution of the Christian believer on a global scale, worldwide hunger, homelessness, etc."
"You can read it for yourself in the Holy Bible that warns about the end times," Cisneros wrote.
She also allegedly wrote about Satan and people hearing voices telling them to kill themselves or others.
"The enemy of our souls, Satan, knows that his ending is near and would like to take as many souls to hell as possible. This is the reason that some people hear voices to either kill someone or themselves or tell people lies such as you have sinned to much to be accepted by Christ and enter the kingdom of God," she said.
Peralta said Cisneros had regularly visited their mother but stopped doing so shortly before the attack.
"There was no sign something was wrong,” he said. "Last week she stopped coming to see my mother... We called, she said she was fine on Saturday."
Both Tisch and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani defended the officers' use of lethal force, although the shooting will be investigated as is standard following officer-involved shootings in New York.
"I want to thank the NYPD officers who stepped in and prevented a horrific attack from becoming even worse,” 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."
.webp_ke6C2y?tr=cr-169.8.1505.1344,f-webp,q-70,w-100)