{"id":339187,"date":"2026-09-06T03:50:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T03:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/339187\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T03:50:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T03:50:44","slug":"nearly-1-million-raised-to-help-daughter-of-times-square-stabbing-victim-erin-piacenti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/339187\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly $1 million raised to help daughter of Times Square stabbing victim Erin Piacenti"},"content":{"rendered":"

An online fundraiser to benefit the infant daughter of new mom Erin Piacenti<\/a>, who was killed by a mentally ill woman amid a pair of random stabbings in Times Square<\/a>, has raised nearly $1 million in just three days.<\/p>\n

The GoFundMe campaign<\/a>, which initially sought $250,000 when it was posted Wednesday, was expanded to have a goal of $1.2 million after thousands of people chipped in donations on behalf of the little girl who will never know her mother.<\/p>\n

As of Friday afternoon, more than $800,000 had been pledged.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a new mom of an 8-month-old, I am heartbroken for Frank and Erin\u2019s family,\u201d Brianna Vogelzang, who donated $100, wrote on the GoFundMe. \u201cMay (their daughter) be surrounded forever by the people who knew and loved her mother. I am keeping (their daughter) in my prayers that she feels her mother\u2019s love for her still, and always.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of Friday morning, more than 8,000 people contributed to the fundraiser, with donations varying from just a couple of dollars to thousands in contributions, with at least 16 discrete donations of more than $1,000 being made to the GoFundMe.<\/p>\n

The single largest contribution was a $10,000 donation.<\/p>\n

\"PamelaPamela Cisneros (main and inset) was fatally shot by NYPD officers after refusing to drop two knives she was swinging as she approached them in Times Square Monday at Seventh Ave. and W. 43rd St. in Midtown. (Courtesy of Jorge Disla; Obtained by NYDN)<\/p>\n

The slain mom was killed on her first day back to work after taking a five-month maternity leave following the birth of her daughter, according to the GoFundMe.<\/p>\n

Piacenti and her husband, Frank Piacenti, had returned from a family road trip, according to the fundraiser. After weeks spent visiting Newport and Bar Harbor in Maine, and Newport, RI, the new mom and her husband were ready to settle into life with their new daughter when tragedy struck.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecoming a mother was Erin\u2019s lifelong ambition, and (her daughter) gave her the greatest possible joy,\u201d Shray Gupta said in a statement posted on GoFundMe. \u201cFunds raised will be dedicated to supporting (her daughter) as she grows up surrounded by the family, friends, stories, and memories that will allow her to know just how remarkable her mother was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erin was at W. 42nd St. and Seventh Ave. in Midtown when Pamela Cisneros, 49, stabbed her in the abdomen just seconds after she wounded a 69-year-old man standing with his wife about a block away, cops said.<\/p>\n

\"APolice at the scene of the fatal stabbing on Monday. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Police, who confronted the alleged stabber moments after she attacked the new mom, opened fire on Cisneros following a roughly four-minute standoff when she approached officers while swinging knives she held in both hands, according to NYPD officials.<\/p>\n

Both the stabbing victims and the suspect were taken to Bellevue Hospital, where Piacenti and her killer died, according to sources.<\/p>\n

Cisneros had three daughters and\u00a0struggled with mental illness\u00a0and postpartum depression, an ongoing battle that led to multiple hospitalizations and a suicide attempt in which she threw herself on the subway tracks, her family said.<\/p>\n

Piacenti was vice president at Bank of America\u2019s business selection and conflicts team, where in her 18 months at the company she earned a reputation as \u201ca trusted partner\u201d and \u201ca cherished teammate and friend,\u201d according to President Matthew Koder.<\/p>\n

\"AA GoFundMe seeking $250,000 to support Erin Piacenti’s baby girl was launched on Wednesday, just two days after the 32-year-old mom was killed on her first day back to work following a five-month maternity leave, according to the fundraiser. (GoFundMe)<\/p>\n

She started her career as a buyer at Bloomingdale\u2019s before moving on to the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell and then Bank of America, according to the GoFundMe.<\/p>\n

Piacenti graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied political science and sang in an a cappella group, the Penn Dischord, according to the fundraiser.<\/p>\n

Her solo performances \u2014\u00a0\u201cLove Me Harder\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cBreak Free\u201d\u00a0by Ariana Grande, and\u00a0\u201cHold My Hand\u201d\u00a0by Jess Glynne \u2014 were posted to the a cappella group\u2019s YouTube channel in 2014 and 2015.<\/p>\n

Piacenti graduated magna cum laude from Fordham University School of Law, where she met her husband, a fellow student, and was inducted into the school\u2019s Order of the Coif, according to a statement released by Fordham Law Dean Joseph Landau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An online fundraiser to benefit the infant daughter of new mom Erin Piacenti, who was killed by a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[125966,75,84,83,9,24,63,2027],"class_list":["post-339187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-erin-piacenti","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-times-square"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}