The woman stabbed to death in Times Square was a new mother who had just finished her first day back at work from maternity leave when she was killed in an unprovoked attack, according to family. Erin Piacenti, a 32-year-old vice president at Bank of America, was walking through the busy tourist area in the heart of Manhattan Monday evening when she was stabbed in the abdomen. She was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after. A crowdfunding campaign was established by relatives of Piacenti to support her 5-month-old baby girl, Madison. “Erin’s life was defined not by the circumstances of her death, but instead by the way she lived. Erin was deeply devoted to her family and friends, exceptionally bright and accomplished, and was someone who brought warmth and energy to the people around her,” read the campaign organized by the brother-in-law of Piacenti’s husband, Frank. The crowdfunding campaign for Piacenti’s husband and daughter she left behind called the killing a “random, senseless, and unprovoked attack.” Piacenti, who lived in Chester, New Jersey, was killed by Pamela Cisneros, who was shot dead by police after stabbing the new mother as well as a 68-year-old man during the deadly afternoon spree. The New York Attorney General announced Wednesday the Office of Special Investigation it was looking into the police shooting — a standard protocol when anyone dies during a law enforcement encounter. The first victim had just come out of the subway with his wife. A witness told police Cisneros took out the knives from a red shopping bag before approaching the couple at the corner of West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue. After waving the weapons around, the suspect stabbed the 68-year-old man in his side. She then went up a block and attacked Piacenti. “Erin and Frank celebrated their second wedding anniversary this summer, had just returned from a family road trip upon her passing, and were preparing to build a life together with their new daughter. That life changed incomprehensibly in an instant,” the crowdfunding campaign read. The stabbings happened about 20 seconds apart and were not believed to be connected. The attacks had no apparent nexus to terror, law enforcement sources said. The first victim, from Rhode Island, was taken to Bellevue Hospital where police said he was recovering and is expected to survive. Following the two stabbings, Cisneros continued up Seventh Avenue, where she got into a standoff with police between 42nd and 43rd streets. She was still armed at the time and refused to drop the large knives. Officers spoke to her for four minutes and fired stun guns at her, but they were not effective in stopping the killer. That’s when officers opened fire, killing Cisneros. Both knives allegedly used by the suspect were recovered at the scene. Cisneros, a 49-year-old from Queens, had a documented history of mental health concerns dating back to 2018 and 2019, but she had no criminal history. In 2018, she was reportedly screaming and acting erratically at a building on Lexington Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan; In 2019, she apparently tried to or claimed she was going to take her life by jumping in front of the subway at Union Turnpike in Queens. ...read more read less