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

Erin Piacenti had spent months preparing for a new chapter in her life.

A new baby.
A new home.
A growing family.

Then, on the very day she returned to work after maternity leave, everything changed.

The 32-year-old Bank of America vice president was fatally stabbed in New York City’s Times Square on Aug. 31, 2026, in what police described as a random and unprovoked incident. She was heading home after her first day back at work when she was attacked.

Now, those who knew Erin are remembering her not simply as a successful banking executive and attorney, but as a loving wife and mother whose life centered around the family she had only recently begun building.

HER FIRST DAY BACK

Erin had recently welcomed her first child, a daughter named Madison.

After spending months on maternity leave, she returned to work at Bank of America on Aug. 31.

According to People, Erin was on her way home when she encountered 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros near West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue.

Police say Cisneros had earlier attacked another pedestrian, a 68-year-old man who survived.

The incident involving Erin unfolded around 4:24 p.m. in one of Manhattan’s busiest areas.

Despite the crowds surrounding Times Square, Erin became the victim of what authorities have described as an apparently random attack.

She was taken to a hospital but could not be saved.

A FIVE-MONTH-OLD DAUGHTER WAITING AT HOME

Perhaps the most heartbreaking detail for Erin’s loved ones is what was waiting for her at home.

Her daughter Madison was just five months old.

Erin had returned to work after maternity leave with a young family and a future she and her husband, Frank, had been building together.

The couple had recently celebrated their second wedding anniversary and had purchased their first home in Chester, New Jersey.

People reports that Erin’s family has since launched a fundraising campaign to help secure Madison’s future.

For those closest to Erin, the tragedy is difficult to comprehend.

A young mother who had just begun this new chapter of her life was suddenly gone.

A LIFE BUILT AROUND FAMILY AND A CAREER

Erin was more than her job title.

She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania before earning her law degree from Fordham Law School in 2021.

She met Frank at Fordham, where both studied law.

At Bank of America, she worked as a vice president in the Business Selection and Conflicts unit.

The bank described her as a valued colleague and expressed deep sorrow over her loss.

Fordham Law School also mourned the loss of its former student.

Friends and family have remembered Erin as warm, intelligent and deeply devoted to the people around her.

WHAT POLICE SAY HAPPENED

Authorities identified Cisneros as the woman accused of attacking Erin and the second victim.

Police said Cisneros was carrying two large knives when officers confronted her.

According to authorities, officers ordered her to drop the weapons, but she refused and moved toward them. Officers first used a Taser before opening fire when she continued advancing with the knives.

Cisneros was fatally shot at the scene.

Police have described the incident as random and unprovoked, and there has been no indication of a connection between Erin and her alleged attacker. The NYPD’s Force Investigation Division is reviewing the police use of force.

“A VALUED TEAMMATE”

As investigators work to establish the full circumstances surrounding the tragedy, Erin’s colleagues are left trying to understand how an ordinary journey home could end so suddenly.

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

But for Erin’s family, the loss is far more personal.

She was a wife.

A daughter.

A friend.

And, above all, a mother to a five-month-old little girl who will grow up knowing her mother through the memories shared by the people who loved her.

Erin had returned to work that morning expecting to begin the next chapter of her life.

Instead, she never made it home.

And now, a young family is left to face a future that Erin should have been here to share.