Times Square stabber who stole new mom's life was diagnosed bipolar after postpartum depression

The woman who was fatally shot by police after going on a stabbing spree in Times Square is said to have suffered from bipolar disorder after struggling with postpartum depression in the wake of her second child. Pamela Cisneros Lopez, 49, stabbed two people, one fatally, in the Monday attack. 

Lopez’s brother, Patrick Peralta, 58, told Daily Mail that his sister had been diagnosed with bipolar around 10 years ago, and suffered from postpartum depression a decade before that. She had been estranged from two of her three daughters, he said, who range in age from late teens to late twenties, for many years.

Her eldest and youngest daughters had been living with their father in Florida, he said, adding that they were estranged from their mother because of her past mental health struggles. Lopez’s middle daughter, who is non-verbal and has severe autism, lives in a care home in Brooklyn.

Peralta said that his sister was the youngest of six siblings, and that his parents moved to the US from Ecuador in the 1970s. He said that Lopez attended church daily and worked in human resources. It's not clear if their parents came to the US before of after Cisneros was born.

He said that Lopez had attempted to raise her children for years, but could no longer cope. “I think she felt like she hadn't accomplished anything with her life because she was at home with the kids,” he said, adding that she had been “going through a divorce for the past five to eight years,” but was unsure whether it had been finalized. “There was a lot of back and forth” with her ex-husband, he said.

His sister attempted suicide in 2019, Peralta said, in which she “She threw herself on the train tracks at Jamaica station. Somebody pulled her off the tracks.” Peralta said his sister suffered a bruised ankle and required stitches to the head. 

Peralta said his sister seemed “fine” for around six years, with Lopez taking medication for bipolar disorder. He said that Lopez had been caring for her mother who had heart surgeries, and that the last time he saw his sister was on August 8 at a birthday party Lopez organized for her father. “She seemed good, she seemed fine.” 

The only warning sign of what was to come, he said, was that Lopez typically ate dinner at her mother’s house every night, but had not turned up for around a week.  

Lopez was supposed to be at work at the time of the stabbing, and Peralta said he called the police when he recognized his sister in footage of the stabbing on the news. “It was the worst thing I have ever watched. I had a premonition that it was her and called the police. I don't know what was going through her head, but I think she wanted to get shot. I don't know where the rage came from. I was in shock because she was never violent. I'm still numb.”

“She seemed normal the last time I saw her - there were no signs that something like this could happen,” he added. “She was taking medication - she gave herself injections every month. Maybe she didn't take the last one and started going off track after that.”

Peralta said of the attack’s victims, “My entire family is so sorry for the two victims. We never wish hurt on anybody and we are so, so sorry that happened to them.” Killed in the attack was Bank of America vice president Erin Piacenti, 32, and injured was a 68-year-old man who had just exited the subway. 

Piacenti had just returned to work after maternity leave, and posted a photo just four days before the attack of herself holding her newborn daughter alongside her husband. They had celebrated their second wedding anniversary in August. She wrote on social media of her gratitude for having five months off for maternity leave, and how her daughter had recently been baptized, per the New York Times. 

Bank of America, where she worked in the business selection and conflicts division, said in a statement, “We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague. She was a valued teammate who will be greatly missed. Our hearts go out to her family and all of her loved ones.”