Four Minutes Of Warnings Changed Nothing

Police vehicles and officers block a city street during an active scene — Photo: Steve Sanchez Photos / Shutterstock

Newly released NYPD body-camera video shows a knife-wielding attacker charge officers in crowded Times Square after four minutes of commands and failed stun guns.

Story Highlights

Police say the suspect stabbed two people, killing one, before confronting officers in Times Square.
Commissioner Jessica Tisch said officers spent four minutes trying to disarm the suspect first.
Video shows repeated orders to drop the knives and threats made by the suspect, according to officials.
Officers tried stun guns that failed before firing to stop the advancing suspect.

What Police Say Happened in Times Square

New York City Police Department leaders said a woman armed with knives stabbed two people in Times Square on August 31, killing one, before officers confronted her near the police substation. Reporters were told the attacks were random and unprovoked. Officers engaged the suspect with commands to drop the weapons as crowds looked on. Police described a fast, dangerous scene with many bystanders at risk in the heart of Midtown Manhattan’s tourist center.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said officers tried to gain compliance for four minutes before shots were fired. Officials said the suspect ignored multiple orders and made direct threats, including that she would kill the officers. The New York Times and CBS New York reported Tisch’s account, which outlined how officers worked to end the threat without gunfire before the suspect charged them with the knives still in hand.

Less-Lethal Efforts and the Split-Second Decision

Officers deployed stun guns during the confrontation, but they did not stop the suspect. Multiple outlets reported that the less-lethal attempts failed to incapacitate her. Officials said the suspect kept advancing with the knives despite the shocks. The sequence described by police and reported by several outlets was clear: commands, failed stun guns, advance with knives, and then gunfire when the threat closed distance in a packed public space.

Commissioner Tisch defended the officers’ actions as consistent with training. She said they acted by the book in an extraordinarily dangerous setting with countless people nearby. CNN reported her statement that officers did exactly what they were trained to do when a lethal threat would not stop, even after warnings and a less-lethal try. City leaders publicly backed the response as appropriate given the immediacy of the danger.

Victims, Video, and Why This Matters

Police and local reports identified the woman killed in the stabbings as a Bank of America vice president who was walking through Times Square. A second victim survived with injuries. The case drew national attention because it mixed a public stabbing, a dense crowd, and a fast police response with body-worn camera video documenting the encounter. Outlets reported that the video captured commands, threats, and the charge that ended in the fatal police shooting.

New York City officials have committed to releasing critical-incident body-camera video within a set window, which helps the public see what officers faced. Police-only narratives once dominated these cases for weeks. Now, video gives citizens a closer look at the facts. The pattern in this incident tracks many high-risk city encounters with edged weapons: a lethal attack, clear commands, a failed stun gun, a rapid advance, and then gunfire to stop the threat before more people get hurt.