N YC mayor Zohran Mamdani and Tisch praised the officers who confronted the woman, saying their actions helped prevent the situation from escalating further in one of the city’s busiest tourist areas.
The 49-year-old Queens woman was confronted by NYPD officers shortly after stabbing a 32-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man on Monday afternoon.
A woman who stabbed two people in New York City’s Times Square before being shot by police charged at officers wielding two kitchen knives and refused repeated demands to surrender, authorities said. The dramatic confrontation unfolded near an NYPD substation outside One Times Square, where officers spent several minutes attempting to persuade the woman to put down the weapons, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. The woman instead told officers, “I’m not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you,” Tisch said. Despite the apparently random nature of the attack and the violent confrontation that followed, police said there was no evidence to suggest that the incident was a terrorist attack.
The investigators ruled out any immediate indication that the attack was terrorism-related. The younger woman died from her injuries, while the man remained in stable condition. Police then used a Taser, but it failed to incapacitate her. Video recorded by bystanders showed the woman subsequently moving towards the officers while waving the knives. Two officers opened fire, striking the woman. She fell to the ground and was handcuffed by police, while officers administered first aid.