New York Attorney General Letitia James is facing scrutiny after opening up a legally required investigation into the police shooting of a woman who fatally stabbed Erin Piacenti, Bank of America executive and a new mother in her first week back to work from maternity leave, in Times Square.James' office announced on Wednesday that it will be investigating Pamela Cisneros' death, who was wielding two large knives in each hand when officers confronted her following the fatal stabbing.She was ordered to drop the weapons but did not comply and was shot when she moved toward the officers.Under state law, the Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation is mandated to investigate all deaths that were caused by police officers.
However, Attorney General Republican candidate Saritha Komatireddy is pushing that the Attorney General's office take more concrete steps to ensure that another tragic killing or attack caused by a mentally unstable person doesn't happen again.She argued that an investigation into police conduct fails to address the real problem at hand."The problem is that we have people who are known dangerous individuals, people with documented mental illness," Komatireddy told Fox News Digital.
"They've been in the courts before, or they've been to the hospitals before.The police know exactly who they are, but we have no ability to take care of them."REPUBLICANS GET 'AGGRESSIVE' IN FIGHT TO WIN TOP COP SPOTS IN BATTLEGROUND STATESA split of Erin Piacenti and the Times Square crime scene where she was tragically stabbed and killed on Aug.
31, 2026.(Getty ; Facebook)A campaign spokesperson for James accused Komatireddy of seeking to "score cheap political points off of a tragedy.""Saritha Komatireddy wants to be Attorney General but doesn’t understand the law," a spokesperson said in an email to Fox News Digital.
"Under New York’s Executive Law, the Office of the Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation is required to investigate any inc...