SHE HAD A MASTER’S DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY. NO ONE SAW THIS COMING.

PAMELA CISNEROS APPEARED TO HAVE BUILT A QUIET, PROFESSIONAL LIFE — UNTIL HER FINAL DAYS RAISED ALARMING QUESTIONS

To the people who knew Pamela Cisneros, she was far more than the woman at the center of a shocking Times Square investigation.

The 49-year-old Queens woman had earned a master’s degree in psychology and had worked intermittently, including as an administrative assistant for an attorney specializing in immigration cases.

For years, her family said, she also struggled with serious mental-health issues and received regular psychiatric treatment.

And for a long time, that treatment appeared to be working.

Her brother, Patrick Peralta, said Cisneros had been receiving monthly injections for several years and had seemed stable. He described her as someone who had never shown a pattern of aggressive behavior toward others.

Then, shortly before the Times Square incident, something appeared to change.

“IT WAS LIKE A SWITCH”

Family members became concerned when Cisneros suddenly stopped showing up for her usual visits.

She regularly spent time with her mother and stepfather, often joining them for meals. But in the week before the incident, that routine abruptly stopped.

Her family began trying to reach her.

Her mother eventually spoke with her by phone on the Saturday before the incident, and Cisneros reportedly said she was fine.

Her brother said he had last seen her earlier in August and remembered her appearing normal.

Then came the shocking events in Times Square.

QUESTIONS ABOUT HER MEDICATION

Cisneros’ family has raised questions about whether she may have missed some of her regular psychiatric treatment.

Her brother said she had previously received monthly injections because she had difficulty consistently taking daily medication.

He later speculated that she might have missed recent doses after beginning to administer the injections herself.

But that remains a family theory, not an established explanation for what happened.

There is currently no public evidence proving that a missed dose caused or directly contributed to the Times Square incident.

A TROUBLED HISTORY HIDDEN BEHIND AN ORDINARY LIFE

Cisneros had experienced serious mental-health crises in the past.

According to family members and police records cited by news organizations, she had previous encounters with authorities related to her mental health and was hospitalized on multiple occasions.

In March 2019, she reportedly attempted suicide by jumping onto subway tracks in Queens and was rescued before being taken for treatment.

Yet relatives said the years that followed were comparatively stable.

She lived in Woodside, maintained contact with her family and worked intermittently.

To people around her, there was little indication that such a devastating turn of events was coming.

THEN CAME TIMES SQUARE

On Aug. 31, police say Cisneros approached two people in the Times Square area and attacked them with knives.

The first victim, 68-year-old Tak Kam, survived.

The second victim, 32-year-old Bank of America vice president Erin Piacenti, suffered fatal injuries.

Piacenti was a new mother who had just returned to work from maternity leave that same day.

Police then confronted Cisneros.

According to authorities, officers repeatedly ordered her to drop the knives. Tasers were deployed but did not stop her. When she advanced toward officers while armed, police opened fire.

Cisneros was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

NO CLEAR MOTIVE HAS EMERGED

Investigators have not publicly established a clear motive for the incident.

Authorities have said there is no indication that the incident was connected to terrorism.

At the same time, New York authorities are investigating the police use of force that ended the confrontation. The state Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation into the police shooting, as required under New York law.

For Cisneros’ family, however, the questions go far beyond what happened in those final minutes.

They are trying to understand how a woman who had appeared stable for years could suddenly become involved in such a horrifying incident.

“NO ONE SAW THIS COMING”

Her family says they knew Pamela had struggled.

They knew about her treatment.

They knew about the difficult periods in her past.

But they also believed she had been doing better.

That is what makes the final days so difficult for them to understand.

The possibility that something changed with her treatment remains only one unanswered question among many.

What happened inside Pamela Cisneros’ mind during those final days — and what ultimately led her to Times Square — remains a question investigators and her family are still trying to answer.