YEARS BEFORE TIMES SQUARE — PAMELA CISNEROS’ FAMILY HAD ALREADY SEEN A DIFFERENT SIDE OF HER

NEW YORK — Long before Pamela Cisneros became the center of a shocking Times Square attack, her family had already witnessed moments of serious personal crisis.

Years before the August 31, 2026, violence that left a young mother dead, Cisneros had multiple encounters with police, including a 2019 incident in which she reportedly tried to jump in front of a subway train in Queens.

Today, those earlier episodes are being examined alongside the final, chaotic moments of her life.

But investigators have not said that her past explains what happened in Times Square.

A crisis years before Times Square

According to an internal NYPD report obtained by The New York Times, officers encountered Cisneros on March 6, 2019, at the Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike subway station in Queens.

Police reported that she attempted to jump in front of a southbound E train.

The incident was one of two documented police encounters involving Cisneros in 2018 and 2019. In another incident, officers reportedly found her screaming and acting belligerently on Lexington Avenue near East 49th Street in Manhattan and determined that she was intoxicated.

The episodes would become part of a troubling history that resurfaced after the Times Square attack.

Her family believed she had turned a corner

Years passed.

According to members of Cisneros’ family, she eventually received treatment and appeared to become much more stable.

Her father, Mario Cisneros, said she had been receiving regular medication injections for a mental-health condition. He told ABC7NY that he had seen his daughter about a week before the Times Square incident and believed she was doing fine.

Her brother, Patrick Peralta, similarly said Cisneros had appeared stable for several years and was receiving injections. He described her as someone who had never been aggressive toward the family.

Then, shortly before the attack, the family noticed something unusual.

Cisneros missed a regular family gathering.

It would be the last time some relatives expected to see her before learning what had happened in Times Square.

Then came August 31

On the afternoon of August 31, police say Cisneros, 49, attacked two strangers in the heart of Times Square.

Authorities said she was carrying two large kitchen knives, which she pulled from a shopping bag.

The first victim was 68-year-old Tak Kam, who was reportedly attacked near Seventh Avenue after leaving the subway.

Moments later, Cisneros allegedly approached another pedestrian.

That victim was Erin Piacenti, 32.

Piacenti was a Bank of America vice president and a Fordham Law School graduate. She had recently returned to work after spending five months on maternity leave and was the mother of a five-month-old daughter, Madison.

Piacenti was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Kam survived.

Police described the attacks as random and unprovoked and have not publicly identified a motive.

The confrontation that followed

After the attacks, Cisneros moved toward the area around an NYPD substation.

Officers confronted her while she was still holding the knives.

According to Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, officers spent several minutes ordering her to drop the weapons. Police also attempted to use Tasers.

The attempts failed.

When Cisneros moved toward the officers, two officers opened fire.

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

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

The question investigators still cannot answer

The most haunting part of the case may be the gap between the two chapters of Cisneros’ life.

In 2019, police documented a serious personal crisis.

Years later, according to her family, she had received treatment and appeared to be living a much more stable life.

Her father said he had seen her shortly before the attack and believed she was fine.

Then, on a crowded Manhattan afternoon, two strangers were attacked without warning.

One survived.

One — a 32-year-old mother returning to work and building a new life with her husband and baby — did not.

And Cisneros herself would die moments later in a confrontation with police.

Her history may provide important context for investigators and her family.

But it does not, by itself, answer the central question:

What changed?

That is the question authorities and those who knew Pamela Cisneros are now left trying to understand.