SHE SAID SHE WAS “DOING FINE” — DAYS LATER, PAMELA CISNEROS WOULD BE AT THE CENTER OF THE TIMES SQUARE TRAGEDY

Just days before a random Times Square attack left a young mother dead, Pamela Cisneros reportedly reassured her family that she was doing fine.

There was no obvious warning.

No phone call telling her family something was terribly wrong.

No clear indication that the 49-year-old Queens woman was about to become the central figure in a shocking sequence of events that would leave one stranger dead, another injured and Cisneros herself fatally shot by police.

Instead, her family says, Pamela appeared to be doing better.

And that is what makes the final days before the Times Square tragedy so difficult for those who knew her to understand.

“SHE WAS DOING FINE”

According to family members, Cisneros had struggled with serious mental-health problems for years.

Her brother, Patrick Peralta, said she had experienced difficult periods in the past but had appeared much more stable in recent years.

He described her as someone who had never previously shown the kind of violent behavior witnessed in Times Square.

Family members also said she had been receiving treatment and appeared to have been doing well for several years.

Then came the final days.

Cisneros reportedly spoke with her mother shortly before the incident and indicated that she was doing fine.

Her family had no clear reason to believe that anything catastrophic was about to happen.

But on Aug. 31, everything changed.

A NORMAL AFTERNOON IN TIMES SQUARE

At approximately 4:24 p.m., New York City emergency dispatchers began receiving calls about a woman carrying knives and attacking people along Seventh Avenue in Times Square.

Police say Cisneros first approached a 68-year-old man who had just exited the subway.

She allegedly stabbed him in the abdomen.

The man, identified as Tak Kam, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital and survived the incident.

Then Cisneros continued north.

Within seconds, she encountered another stranger.

Her name was Erin Piacenti.

Piacenti was only 32.

She was a Bank of America vice president and a lawyer who had recently returned to work following maternity leave.

That Monday was reportedly her first day back at work after giving birth to her five-month-old daughter, Madison.

She was heading home.

She never made it.

ERIN HAD JUST RETURNED TO HER NEW LIFE

The tragedy becomes even more heartbreaking when viewed against what Piacenti had been building just before the incident.

She and her husband, Frank, had recently purchased their first home in Chester, New Jersey.

They had celebrated their second wedding anniversary only weeks earlier.

And they had recently welcomed their first child.

Family members described Erin as a devoted wife and mother whose daughter was the center of her world.

But in the middle of one of the busiest places in New York City, she encountered a stranger whose actions appeared completely unprovoked.

Police say Cisneros attacked Piacenti less than 20 seconds after the first victim was assaulted.

Piacenti was taken to Bellevue Hospital but could not be saved.

THEN CAME THE POLICE CONFRONTATION

Officers quickly surrounded Cisneros in Times Square.

According to NYPD officials, she was carrying two large knives and repeatedly refused commands to put them down.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said officers spent several minutes attempting to get her to surrender.

Instead, authorities say Cisneros threatened the officers and advanced toward them while waving the knives.

Officers first attempted to subdue her with a Taser.

It did not stop her.

As she continued advancing, officers fired.

Cisneros was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The NYPD’s Force Investigation Division is reviewing the police response.

HER FAMILY STILL CANNOT EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED

For Pamela’s relatives, the most difficult question is not simply what happened in Times Square.

It is what happened before Times Square.

Her brother has said that she had struggled with mental-health issues for years but had seemed stable and had not previously displayed violent behavior toward the family.

Her mother has also questioned how the situation escalated so dramatically.

In an interview, her mother expressed disbelief that officers could not physically restrain her daughter, asking why they did not grab her arm.

Those comments reflect a family struggling to reconcile two very different versions of the same woman:

The Pamela they believed they knew…

And the woman seen in dramatic footage confronting police with knives in the middle of Times Square.

DID SOMETHING CHANGE?

That question remains unanswered.

Some relatives have raised questions about Pamela’s treatment and whether her condition may have changed before the incident.

But there is currently no confirmed evidence establishing that a change in medication or treatment caused the Times Square attack.

Mental-health history alone also cannot explain or predict violent behavior.

Authorities have not publicly established a motive for why Cisneros allegedly targeted two strangers that afternoon.

What is known is that the victims appeared to have been strangers to her.

Police have described the incident as random and unprovoked and have said there was no indication of a terrorism connection.

THE FINAL HOURS REMAIN A MYSTERY

That leaves a haunting timeline.

A woman with years of personal struggles reportedly appeared stable.

She reassured her family that she was doing fine.

Days later, she was in the heart of Times Square.

Two strangers were attacked.

A young mother who had only just returned to work would not make it home to her five-month-old daughter.

And Pamela Cisneros would die during a confrontation with police.

For the families involved, there are no easy explanations.

Erin Piacenti’s loved ones are now mourning a woman whose life had been filled with a new marriage, a new home and the joy of becoming a mother.

Pamela Cisneros’ family is left trying to understand how someone they believed had been doing well could become involved in such a devastating sequence of events.

The investigation continues.

And one question remains at the center of the mystery:

What changed between the moment Pamela told her family she was “fine” — and the afternoon everything went tragically wrong in Times Square?