A 49-year-old woman was shot dead by New York police in Times Square on Monday after stabbing two people at random, killing one, and then charging at officers while brandishing two large kitchen knives. Footage circulating on social media showed Pamela Cisneros Lopez, from Queens, being tasered but continuing to advance on officers before being shot twice. The incident briefly threw the busy tourist district into chaos and has prompted praise for the police response from city officials, who said the outcome could have been far worse.

Lopez stabbed a 68-year-old man in the abdomen as he waited to cross a street with his wife, before stabbing a 32-year-old woman in the abdomen, who later died. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Lopez told officers during a standoff that she would "rather kill both of you" than drop the knives, and confirmed Lopez had a documented mental health history, including two prior police incidents in 2018 and 2019, though she had never been arrested. Officials said there was no evidence of a terrorist motive, and investigators are still working to establish why the attack occurred.