“DON’T WORRY, DAD. I’M FINE.” — PAMELA CISNEROS’ FATHER THOUGHT HIS DAUGHTER HAD FINALLY TURNED A CORNER

MONTHS BEFORE THE TRAGEDY IN TIMES SQUARE, PAMELA CISNEROS’ FATHER BELIEVED YEARS OF TREATMENT HAD HELPED HER REBUILD HER LIFE. THEN CAME ONE SIMPLE CONVERSATION HE WOULD NEVER FORGET.

“Don’t worry, Dad.”

Those were the words Pamela Cisneros’ father remembered after offering to drive his daughter to a mental-health appointment in April.

She told him she could go on her own.

He believed her.

For years, Mario Cisneros had been closely involved in his daughter’s care. After a serious mental-health crisis in 2019, he began accompanying Pamela to regular hospital appointments, where she received medication by injection.

According to her family, the treatment appeared to help.

For several years, they believed Pamela had found a measure of stability. Her brother said she seemed fine and had not shown violence toward other people during that period.

Then, in April 2026, something changed.

“I CAN GO MYSELF”

Mario offered to take Pamela to her regular appointment at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens.

She declined.

She reassured him that she could handle it herself and told him not to worry.

Her father accepted her answer.

There was no reason, from his perspective, to believe that the moment would later become one of the most haunting memories surrounding his daughter.

The family has said Pamela had expressed reluctance about continuing to rely on medication. Her father recalled that she wanted to avoid becoming dependent on it.

But exactly what treatment Pamela was receiving, whether she continued receiving it, and what role — if any — her treatment status played in what happened later remain unclear.

A FAMILY WHO THOUGHT SHE WAS DOING BETTER

Pamela had struggled with serious mental-health problems for years.

Her father told reporters that a 2019 crisis had prompted the family to become more involved in her care. Police records also document encounters involving Pamela in 2018 and 2019.

But the years that followed seemed different.

Her family described a woman who had regained some stability.

She had studied psychology and was a mother of three. Her marriage had broken down after years of difficulties, and her family had also dealt with financial and custody-related pressures.

Yet none of those struggles appeared to explain what would eventually happen in Manhattan.

In the weeks before August 31, relatives said they did not recognize any obvious warning that something catastrophic was approaching.

Her father had even seen her for dinner shortly before the Times Square incident and said he did not notice anything unusual.

THEN CAME TIMES SQUARE

On August 31, Pamela, 49, was in the heart of Manhattan when authorities say she stabbed two strangers within moments of each other.

The victims were Tak Kam, 68, who was injured, and Erin Piacenti, 32, a Bank of America vice president who was fatally wounded.

Police soon encountered Pamela on Seventh Avenue.

According to the New York Attorney General’s Office, she was holding a knife in each hand. Officers repeatedly ordered her to drop them. Three officers used Tasers, but they appeared to have no effect.

Authorities say Pamela then moved toward the officers, prompting two officers to fire their service weapons.

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

The Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death. Officials stressed that the preliminary facts could change as the investigation continues.

THE QUESTION HER FAMILY CANNOT ANSWER

For Pamela’s father, the most painful part may be the gap between the daughter he thought he knew and the woman who appeared in Times Square.

He had spent years helping her get to treatment.

He believed she was stable.

Then she told him she could handle her appointment herself.

And he trusted her.

That does not mean the April appointment caused what happened months later. There is currently no established evidence showing that one decision directly led to the Times Square incident.

But it has left her family with a question that may never have a simple answer:

What was happening inside Pamela during those final months that the people closest to her could not see?

A STORY THAT GOES BEYOND ONE DAY

Pamela’s story has also drawn renewed attention to the difficulty families can face when someone with a history of serious mental-health problems appears to be doing well.

Sometimes improvement can look ordinary.

A daughter says she is fine.

A father accepts the answer.

A family moves forward.

And nobody realizes that something may have changed beneath the surface.

For Mario Cisneros, that April conversation now carries a weight it could never have had at the time.

He offered to help his daughter.

She told him not to worry.

And he believed her.

Months later, after the tragedy in Times Square, those simple words became part of the painful search for answers surrounding Pamela Cisneros.