Bank of America exec killed in random Times Square stabbing laid to rest as hundreds mourn young mom

MENDHAM BOROUGH, N.J. — The Bank of America executive killed in a random, unprovoked stabbing in New York City's Times Square last week was laid to rest Wednesday as hundreds of mourners turned out to pay their respects over the past two days.

Erin Guiltinan Piacenti, 32, of Chester, New Jersey, had just returned from maternity leave after the birth of her first child when police say a woman with a history of mental illness stabbed her and another bystander on Seventh Avenue.

Piacenti, the oldest of five siblings, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Fordham University School of Law, according to her family's death announcement.

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She became the music director of UPenn's Dischord A Cappella group and met her husband, Frank Piacenti, at law school, according to the obituary. The two married in 2024 and welcomed their first and only child, Madison, in March.

After graduation, she worked at the Manhattan-based international law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell before becoming a vice president at Bank of America.

Piacenti and her husband had returned from a vacation celebrating their two-year anniversary the day before her murder, according to the family.

Aug. 31 was also her first day back from maternity leave, according to the organizer of a GoFundMe campaign that has raised nearly $1 million as of Tuesday for 6-month-old Madison.

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At a wake Tuesday evening, hundreds of mourners lined up outside the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Mendham Borough, New Jersey. They came and left in small groups between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. The church's parking lot full much of the evening, and local police were coordinating traffic.

A funeral Mass was held Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET at the same church.

The family is asking for donations to the GoFundMe in lieu of flowers.

Just before 4:30 p.m. Aug. 31, Piacenti was stabbed in the abdomen in New York's Times Square, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. The injury proved fatal.

Speaking with reporters on the evening of the murder, Tisch identified the suspect as 49-year-old Queens resident Pamela Cisneros.

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Just 20 seconds before the attack on Piacenti, Cisneros stabbed a 68-year-old man who was waiting at a crosswalk with his wife, Tisch said, calling the stabbings "random and unprovoked." He survived and was hospitalized in stable condition, according to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

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"I ask New Yorkers to join me in holding the victim in our thoughts and wishing them a full recovery," he said at a news briefing. "I want to thank the NYPD officers who stepped in and prevented a horrific attack from becoming even worse."

A routine investigation into the officers' conduct would be conducted, he said, and the city will release bodycam footage.

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Part of a subsequent standoff with police was captured on video. The woman identified as Cisneros can be seen holding two kitchen knives. Police told her repeatedly to drop the weapons.

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"I'm not dropping anything," she told the officers, according to Tisch. "I would rather kill both of you. I will kill you."

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NYPD officers attempted to stop her with stun guns, which failed to stop her. As she approached officers while waving the knives, they opened fire.

The incident caused road closures on Seventh Avenue between 42nd and 47th streets.

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Cisneros was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital. Tisch said Cisneros had a documented history of mental health issues that led to interactions with the NYPD in 2018 and 2019 but no prior arrests.

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"Tonight, our thoughts are, of course, with the victims of this horrific attack and their families," Tisch told reporters near the scene last week. "One life cut far too short by a senseless act of violence."

Fox News' Greg Wehner contributed to this report.