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.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>.<\/p>\n NJ MOM FATALLY STABBED IN TIMES SQUARE DURING FIRST WEEK BACK AT BANK OF AMERICA AFTER MATERNITY LEAVE<\/a><\/p>\n Frank Piacenti looks on as pallbearers carry the coffin of his wife Erin Piacenti at St Joseph’s church in Mendham Borough, N.J., Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. Piacenti was killed in a random knife attack in Times Square last month.\u00a0 (Luis Yllanes for Fox News Digital)<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n After graduation, she worked at the Manhattan-based international law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell before becoming a vice president at Bank of America.<\/p>\n Erin Piacenti, the Bank of America vice president who was killed in a stabbing attack in New York City’s Times Square Aug. 31, 2026, on her wedding day. (Facebook\/Erin Piacenti)<\/p>\n Piacenti and her husband had returned from a vacation celebrating their two-year anniversary the day before her murder<\/a>, according to the family.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n MULTIPLE PEOPLE STABBED NEAR PENN STATION, LEAVING ONE SERIOUSLY INJURED AS INVESTIGATION CONTINUES<\/a><\/p>\n Erin Piacenti, the Bank of America vice president who was killed in a stabbing attack in New York City’s Times Square Aug. 31, 2026. (Facebook\/Erin Piacenti)<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Mourners sign a guest book at the wake of Erin Piacenti at St. Joseph’s church in Mendham Borough, N.J., Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. Piacenti was killed in a random knife attack in Times Square last month. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)<\/p>\n A funeral Mass was held Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET at the same church.<\/p>\n The family is asking for donations to the GoFundMe in lieu of flowers.<\/p>\n The Times Square attack:<\/p>\n Just before 4:30 p.m. Aug. 31, Piacenti was stabbed in the abdomen in New York’s Times Square<\/a>, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. The injury proved fatal.<\/p>\n Speaking with reporters on the evening of the murder, Tisch identified the suspect as 49-year-old Queens resident Pamela Cisneros.<\/p>\n Mourners sign a guest book at the wake of Erin Piacenti at St Joseph’s church in Mendham Borough, N.J., Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)<\/p>\n FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X<\/a><\/p>\n Just 20 seconds before the attack on Piacenti, Cisneros stabbed<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n NYC SUSPECT FREED FROM PSYCH HOLD HOURS BEFORE FATAL SUBWAY SHOVING OF 76-YEAR-OLD FORMER TEACHER<\/a><\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Erin Piacenti and the Times Square area where she was stabbed and killed Aug. 31, 2026. (Getty; Facebook)<\/p>\n A routine investigation into the officers’ conduct would be conducted, he said, and the city will release bodycam footage.<\/p>\n SIGN UP TO GET THE LATEST TRUE CRIME NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n Part of a subsequent standoff with police<\/a> was captured on video. The woman identified as Cisneros can be seen holding two kitchen knives. Police told her repeatedly to drop the weapons.<\/p>\n LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE<\/a><\/p>\n “I’m not dropping anything,” she told the officers, according to Tisch. “I would rather kill both of you. I will kill you.”<\/p>\n SEND US A TIP<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The incident caused road closures on Seventh Avenue between 42nd and 47th streets.<\/p>\n LISTEN TO THE NEW ‘CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ PODCAST<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n![\"Mourners](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/times-square-stabbing-funeral-fox-news_005.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Erin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789058071_377_BofA-Exec-Killed-001.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Erin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789058071_900_BofA-Exec-Killed-002.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Mourners](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/times-square-stabbing-funeral-fox-news_001.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Mourners](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/times-square-stabbing-funeral-fox-news_003.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789058072_304_BofA-Exec-Killed-003.jpg\")
<\/p>\n