
Erin Piacenti, 32, was fatally stabbed on her first day back from maternity leave in a random attack in Manhattan.
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Erin Piacenti was fatally stabbed in a random attack in Times Square while returning from maternity leave. The attacker, Pamela Cisneros, was killed by police during the incident.
A fundraiser for the newborn daughter of Erin Piacenti, the Bank of America vice president who was fatally stabbed in Times Square, raised over $650,000 within a day.
Piacenti, 32, was one of two people stabbed just a short distance from the Bank of America office in Manhattan on Monday — which was also her first day at work after maternity leave.
She accomplished her “lifelong ambition” of becoming a mother just five months ago when she and her husband, Frank, welcomed their daughter, Madison, into the world, according to a GoFundMe set up to benefit Madison.
The new mom had stopped in front of a vendor selling sunglasses as she headed home from her first day back at work on Monday when she was stabbed. NYPD officers shot and killed her attacker, identified as 49-year-old Pamela Cisneros of Queens.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the attack as “random and unprovoked.”
Witnesses said they saw Cisneros brandishing two knives before stabbing a 68-year-old man and Piacenti.
When confronted by police, Cisneros refused to drop her weapons and threatened police officers. Two Tasers were deployed before she was shot and killed.
“This fund has been established to support Madison and her future. It offers the many people who loved Erin, knew her, worked with her, or have simply been moved by her story a way to honor Erin by helping care for the daughter she loved more than anything,” the GoFundMe read.
“Funds raised will be dedicated to supporting Madison as she grows up surrounded by family, friends, stories, and memories that will allow her to know just how remarkable her mother was.”
The campaign had received over $650,000 in donations as of Thursday afternoon.
Days before the fatal stabbing, Piacenti had shared a picture on social media holding her newborn daughter and smiling, according to The New York Times.
“As my maternity leave comes to an end,” she wrote, “I could not be more grateful for every day of the last five months spent with this amazing little girl.”
She was also remembered as “a thoughtful daughter and sister, a loyal friend, a devoted partner and companion in every aspect of Frank’s life, and, most recently, an incredibly loving mother to Madison,” according to the fundraiser.
Piacenti and her husband, Frank, celebrated their second wedding anniversary this summer “and were preparing to build a life together with their new daughter.”
“That life changed incomprehensibly in an instant,” the fundraiser said.

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