Pamela Cisneros, who carried out a stabbing attack in Times Square on Monday that left one person dead before she was fatally shot by police, had a long history of mental health struggles, her father said in an interview on Tuesday.

Mario Cisneros described his 49-year-old daughter as having battled serious mental illness for decades, citing a 2019 incident when she attempted to jump in front of a subway train in Queens. Following that event, her family intervened, and Mario Cisneros began escorting her to monthly hospital appointments where she received injections intended to stabilize her condition. He believed she had shown signs of improvement until recently, when she declined to attend her regular mental health treatments, asserting she could manage on her own.

“No, Dad, don’t worry. I’m good. Don’t worry about me,” Mario Cisneros recalled her telling him in April.

On Monday, Cisneros carried two kitchen knives through the crowded Times Square area and attacked two individuals. One victim was killed. Police shot and killed Cisneros after she reportedly refused to drop the weapons. The circumstances leading to the attack prompted an examination of her recent history of mental health and personal difficulties.

Court documents and police reports reveal a turbulent life marked by financial challenges and ongoing struggles with mental illness. Cisneros, who studied psychology in college and lived in Queens, was married to Jose Lopez in 1999; the couple had three children. However, she faced employment instability and filed for bankruptcy in 2005, indicating unemployment while her husband worked as a Citibank clerk.

By 2018, after separating from Lopez, Cisneros returned to Queens from Florida. Police records from late 2018 describe an incident where she was found intoxicated and behaving aggressively on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. Days later, she attempted suicide by trying to jump in front of a subway train in Queens. Lopez filed for divorce in 2020, and a custody dispute followed.

According to family court records in Florida, Cisneros left a job at an insurance company in early 2022 and struggled to secure employment thereafter. Text messages to her daughters, shared in court filings, included holiday greetings and reassurances of her love, but they reportedly went unanswered.

Neighbors and building management described Cisneros as quiet and non-disruptive. Chris Dowling, the manager of the apartment building in Woodside, Queens, where she had lived alone for five years, said she was polite, paid rent on time, and never caused problems.

Her father expressed shock and sorrow over the events. “What she did just doesn’t make sense,” Mario Cisneros said. “She was troubled, but never violent. Nobody should take a life. Not God, not a human being. Nobody.” He said he did not know the specifics of her diagnosis or medications but noted she had resisted continuing treatment in recent months.

Authorities continue to investigate the motives behind the attack as Pamela Cisneros’s family and community grapple with the tragedy.