A 23-year-old man was slashed in the face and torso near an office building on Seventh Avenue in Times Square Saturday night, and the suspect remains at large. Police say the victim was taken to a local hospital and is expected to recover, and is currently listed in stable condition.
According to PIX11, the attacker was last seen heading southbound while wearing a beige sweater, and investigators are still working to track the person down. Officials are urging anyone with cellphone video or surveillance footage of the incident to contact investigators or NYPD Crime Stoppers. Tipsters can reach Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, texting 274637 (CRIMES) and entering TIP577, or visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org; Spanish-speaking callers can dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
Police say they are investigating this attack as part of a series of violent incidents in Times Square and across New York City. The Seventh Avenue slashing adds to several recent bladed weapon attacks reported along Midtown Manhattan's commercial and transit corridors, according to Hoodline's own reporting.
A Deadly Stabbing Rampage Days Earlier
Less than a week before Saturday's slashing, 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros, identified by police as a Queens resident, stabbed two people in Times Square. Police reported that Cisneros began her attack near West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue by pulling two knives from a Target shopping bag and stabbing a 68-year-old man in the abdomen roughly 20 seconds before fatally stabbing 32-year-old Erin Piacenti, according to CBS News New York. NYPD officers shot and killed Cisneros after police said she advanced toward them and refused to drop the knives.
Piacenti was a Bank of America executive from New Jersey who had returned to work less than a week before the attack following maternity leave, according to FOX 29. She earned a political science degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2016 and a law degree from Fordham Law School in 2021, and left behind an infant daughter and husband.
Cisneros's brother discussed her mental illness and psychiatric medication. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed Cisneros had police mental-health encounters in 2018 and 2019 but no prior New York City criminal arrest record, per the same reporting cited by the Associated Press.
Taser Failure Preceded the Fatal Shooting
During the August 31 shooting, officers deployed Tasers before firing live rounds at Cisneros.
Brooklyn Bridge Standoff Turned Deadly
Just one day before Saturday's Seventh Avenue slashing, police shot and killed a man carrying a knife who was walking on Brooklyn Bridge cables early Friday morning after he ignored orders to drop the weapon. During the standoff, Emergency Service Unit officers tethered in safety harnesses spent nearly an hour trying to de-escalate the situation while the man claimed he had a bomb and said he wanted officers to kill him, according to The Guardian.
Police officers tried to help the man climb down, but ESU officers tethered to the cables were unable to move backward as quickly as the suspect descended toward them. An officer on the roadbed fired the fatal shot when the man reached within three feet, according to the Associated Press.
A Pattern Stretching Back Through the Summer
The recent violence isn't isolated to the past two weeks. On August 9, a 19-year-old man was stabbed twice in the back and slashed across his body along 42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues during daylight hours following a street dispute, as Hoodline previously reported.
The NYPD's Midtown South Precinct, which patrols the Seventh Avenue and Times Square commercial hub where Saturday's slashing occurred, publishes precinct statistics. The area's foot traffic complicates both prevention and suspect apprehension in a corridor that has now seen repeated bladed weapon attacks in a matter of weeks.
Legal Exposure for Knife Assaults
Under New York State Penal Law, Assault in the Second Degree is a Class D felony carrying a possible maximum sentence of seven years. That statute could apply once the suspect in Saturday's slashing is identified and apprehended.
It remains unclear whether the suspect in Saturday's Seventh Avenue slashing had any prior relationship with the victim or whether the attack represents another random incident in the Midtown corridor. Police continue to ask anyone with information to come forward as the investigation continues.
