YEARS BEFORE TIMES SQUARE, HER FAMILY HAD ALREADY SEEN HER IN A DEEP CRISIS

The disturbing history surrounding the Times Square case did not begin on a crowded Manhattan street.

Years earlier, Pamela Cisneros’ family had already witnessed her going through a serious personal crisis.

According to reports from relatives, Cisneros struggled with severe postpartum depression after the birth of her second child and experienced a suicide attempt involving a New York City subway train.

Her family had seen a side of her life that strangers on the streets of Manhattan could never have known.

For years, there were periods of treatment, family life and what appeared from the outside to be a relatively ordinary professional routine.

But behind that routine was a history of mental-health struggles that had already brought Cisneros into contact with police.

NYPD officials have confirmed that she had a documented mental-health history with the department, including incidents in 2018 and 2019. She had no known prior arrest record.

Then came August 31, 2026.

Around 4:30 p.m., Cisneros was in the heart of Times Square carrying two large knives inside a shopping bag.

Police say she approached a 68-year-old man near Seventh Avenue before stabbing him.

Moments later, she allegedly attacked another person — 32-year-old Bank of America vice president Erin Piacenti, who had just returned to work after maternity leave.

Piacenti later died from her injuries.

The 68-year-old man survived.

What happened next was captured by police cameras and witnessed by people in one of the busiest areas of New York.

Officers confronted Cisneros and repeatedly ordered her to put down the knives.

According to police, she refused and moved toward officers.

Attempts to stop her with Tasers were unsuccessful.

Two officers then opened fire, and Cisneros was later pronounced deceased at Bellevue Hospital.

The case immediately raised questions about what could have led to such a sudden and apparently random confrontation.

Investigators have described the incident as random and unprovoked, with no indication of terrorism.

But the discovery of Cisneros’ earlier struggles has added another layer to the story.

Her family says the woman they knew had battled serious mental-health difficulties for years.

Her brother has spoken about her long struggle and said he had never known her to become violent because of those difficulties. Recent reporting also indicates that Cisneros had been receiving treatment before the Times Square incident.

Still, investigators have not established that her previous mental-health history explains what happened that afternoon.

And there is no evidence that a single event, diagnosis or period of treatment directly caused the Times Square violence.

That distinction matters.

The timeline instead reveals something more complicated: a woman whose family had seen her endure serious personal struggles years before she suddenly became the central figure in a terrifying Manhattan incident.

Two moments in her life now stand years apart.

One involved a family desperately trying to help her through a personal crisis.

The other unfolded in front of police officers, tourists and commuters in the middle of Times Square.

Between those moments were years of family life, treatment, work and attempts to move forward.

Now investigators are trying to understand what happened in the final chapter.

And for Erin Piacenti’s family, those questions come alongside an unimaginable loss: a 32-year-old mother who had returned to work after maternity leave and was building a new life with her husband and five-month-old daughter.

The full timeline may reveal more about what led to that afternoon — but for now, the connection between Cisneros’ past struggles and the Times Square incident remains a subject of investigation, not a proven explanation.