SHE HAD JUST RETURNED FROM MATERNITY LEAVE — BANK OF AMERICA VP ERIN PIACENTI REMEMBERED AS A DEVOTED NEW MOM AFTER TRAGEDY IN TIMES SQUARE

She had spent five months on maternity leave. She had just returned to work. And by the end of that first day, her family’s world had changed forever.

Erin Piacenti, a 32-year-old Bank of America vice president and attorney, was returning home from her first day back at work when she became the victim of a random and unprovoked stabbing in New York City’s Times Square on Aug. 31.

Piacenti, who lived in Chester, New Jersey, had recently welcomed her first child, a daughter named Madison. Her return to work was supposed to mark the beginning of a new chapter for the young mother.

Instead, it became her final day.

A NEW MOM BUILDING A NEW LIFE

Erin had recently celebrated her second wedding anniversary with her husband, Frank, who is also an attorney.

The couple had moved into their first home in Chester, where they were building a life around their five-month-old daughter.

Erin was also a highly accomplished professional.

She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania before earning her law degree from Fordham Law School in 2021. It was at Fordham that she met her husband.

At Bank of America, she worked as a vice president and was remembered by the company as a valued colleague.

The bank said it was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the loss of its colleague.

But to her family, Erin was much more than an executive or attorney.

She was Madison’s mother.

THE TRAGEDY IN TIMES SQUARE

According to police, Erin was walking along Seventh Avenue near West 42nd Street when she was approached by 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros.

Cisneros allegedly attacked two people within a short period of time.

A 68-year-old man, Tak Kam, was injured and survived.

Erin was critically injured and later died at a hospital. Police described the incident as random and unprovoked, and authorities have said there is no indication that it was terrorism-related.

Police then confronted Cisneros, who was carrying two knives.

Officers repeatedly ordered her to drop the weapons, but authorities say she refused and advanced toward them.

After Tasers failed to stop the threat, officers fired their service weapons, and Cisneros was fatally wounded.

The NYPD Force Investigation Division is reviewing the police-involved shooting.

HER BABY WAS WAITING AT HOME

Perhaps the most heartbreaking detail is what Erin had just returned to work from.

She had spent the previous five months on maternity leave after welcoming Madison.

Her family had been celebrating the arrival of their daughter and building memories together.

Now Madison will grow up without her mother.

Erin’s family has launched a fundraising campaign to help secure Madison’s future, with a goal of $250,000. More than half of that amount had already been raised in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.

The family has also asked for privacy as they grieve.

A LIFE REMEMBERED BEYOND THE HEADLINES

The circumstances surrounding Erin’s final moments have understandably drawn enormous attention.

But those who knew her are remembering something much bigger than the tragedy.

They remember a young attorney, a successful professional, a wife, a daughter, a friend — and, most importantly, a new mother who had just begun life with her baby girl.

She had returned to work expecting to continue building that future.

Instead, a completely random encounter on one of New York’s busiest streets changed everything.

And now, as investigators continue examining the circumstances surrounding the Times Square incident, Erin’s loved ones are left with the life she was supposed to have — and the little girl who will grow up knowing her mother through the memories of those who loved her.

Erin Piacenti was 32.

Madison was only five months old.

And what was supposed to be Erin’s first day back at work became a day her family will never forget.