Woman stabs 2, killing 1, in New York’s Times Square and is shot dead by police

• A woman stabbed two people in New York’s Times Square, killing one, before police confronted her near a police substation.
• The woman refused to drop two knives and charged at officers, who then shot her after attempting to use a stun gun.
• Videos show the stand-off and the aftermath, with officers rendering aid before paramedics transported the woman on a gurney.

NEW YORK – A woman stabbed at least two people in Times Square in the afternoon of Aug 31, one fatally, and was shot dead by police after she refused to put down two knives, according to two people with knowledge of the episode.

It was not immediately clear how seriously injured the other victim was.

Aliou Diaye, a vendor, saw a woman wearing a pink shirt stab another woman right in front of his stand at Seventh Avenue and West 41st Street, in the crowded heart of Times Square, just before 4.30pm (4.30am on Sept 1 Singapore time).

“She didn’t say nothing,” said Diaye, 62. “She walked up to her. She stabbed her in the stomach.”

Diaye said the victim had fallen to the sidewalk, and that he and a friend had called 911 as the woman in the pink shirt headed north.

At West 43rd Street, near a Police Department substation, the woman was confronted by police. There are at least two videos of what happened next.

One, posted on the social platform X, shows the woman holding knives in both hands, in an apparent stand-off with police officers standing in a semicircle around her about 3km away, as cars and pedestrians continue to go by.

After 38 seconds, someone can be heard yelling “tase her”. The woman begins waving her arms in circles.

Someone yells “tase her” again. Several percussive sounds are heard, the wires that are attached to stun gun darts can be seen near the woman, and an officer holding what appears to be a stun gun enters the frame.

The woman begins charging toward the officers, two or three shots ring out, and the woman falls.

Another video, provided by a former law enforcement official and taken from behind the officers, shows at least seven officers surrounding the woman, as billboard ads for a jeweller play surreally on giant video screens in the background, before the shooting starts.

Still another video, provided by a food vendor, shows the same woman lying on the ground and blood spreading across the sidewalk as officers appear to render aid to her. Paramedics then transport the woman on a gurney. NYTIMES

• This article originally appeared in The New York Times.