Woman randomly stabs 2 people in New York City's Times Square, killing 1, then is killed by police

A woman randomly stabbed two people in New York City’s Times Square on Monday, killing one woman, and then was fatally shot by police, according to officials.

The shooting happened just before 4:30 p.m. next to a New York Police Department substation, just outside One Times Square, the building that hosts the city’s annual New Year’s Eve ball drop celebration. It is one of the most heavily touristed and policed spots in all of New York.

The 49-year-old woman from Queens pulled out two knives from a shopping bag and stabbed a 68-year-old man who had just come out of the subway station and was waiting to cross the street with his wife, striking him in the abdomen, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference.

Seconds later, the woman stabbed a 32-year-old woman also in the abdomen, Tisch said. Both victims were taken to the hospital. The woman died and the man is in stable condition, according to police.

Police didn’t say if the victims were tourists visiting the city or residents.

Videos posted on social media show a group of at least 10 officers gathered around the woman, who was holding two large kitchen knives.

Officers tried to convince the woman to drop the knives for several minutes before using a Taser, Tisch said. The woman told them: “I’m not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you,” according to Tisch.

The video shows the Taser not incapacitating her and the woman walking quickly toward the officers while waving the knives in front of her.

Two officers then shot the woman, according to police. In the video posted by bystanders, the woman fell to the ground, where an officer handcuffed her. Officers rolled her onto her back and rendered first aid.

“This was an extraordinarily dangerous situation unfolding in the heart of Times Square, the crossroads of the world,” Tisch said.

The woman has a “documented mental health history with the NYPD,” which include incidents in 2018 and 2019 but no arrest history with the department, Tisch said. She didn't provide additional details.

Police are investigating. Tisch said there was no evidence suggesting it was a terrorist attack.

The names of the victims have not been released until next of kin are notified, according to police.

“We know that those families’ lives have been shattered by what took place today, and we will continue to hold them close as the hours and days and weeks continue from this moment," said Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Both Mamdani and Tisch praised the officers, saying more people could have been hurt or killed if not for their actions.

The NYPD temporarily closed part of 7th Avenue and warned the public to stay away from the area. Police tape cordoned off the area as a large group of law enforcement officers worked nearby.

Violent crime has fallen sharply in New York City so far this year, with homicides down 24% and on pace to potentially hit their lowest level in decades. But this is the second killing this year in Times Square. A man was fatally stabbed in the same area in May.

This image made from video provided by WABC shows NYPD officers on the scene after a woman brandishing two large knives was shot by officers in Times Square in New York, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (WABC via AP)

This image made from video provided by WABC-TV shows NYPD officers on the scene after a woman brandishing two large knives was shot by officers in Times Square in New York, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (WABC via AP)

This image made from video provided by WABC shows NYPD officers on the scene after a woman brandishing two large knives was shot by officers in Times Square in New York, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (WABC via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a large aerial assault in and around Ukraine’s capital overnight into Tuesday morning, killing at least 12 people and wounding more than a dozen others, including three children, local authorities said.

The strikes marked the sixth straight day of heavy Russian attacks on Kyiv that began last week and are an unprecedented stretch of consecutive aerial assaults since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than 4½ years ago. Moscow's aim is to grind down civilians by disrupting their daily life, Ukrainian officials say.

Several million Ukrainian schoolchildren returned to classes Tuesday for the new school year, just as Russia unleashed its onslaught of cruise and ballistic missiles, jet-powered drones, glide bombs and artillery salvos at Kyiv as well as eight other regions of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 12 people were killed, including an Indian citizen.

The attack struck civilian infrastructure and residential buildings in several districts of Kyiv, authorities said, with eight people killed in the city itself and three others in the surrounding region.

Six employees of state-owned railway company Ukrzaliznytsia were among those killed in Kyiv when a ballistic missile hit a depot and other premises, company chairman Oleksandr Pertsovskyi said in a social media post.

Nearly 350 emergency workers were deployed in Kyiv and the surrounding region, Zelenskyy said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces carried out a “massive strike” on Ukraine overnight with “precision-guided weapons” and long-range drones. The assault targeted facilities manufacturing and storing weapons as well as military-related infrastructure, it said.

Ukraine’s air force said that Russia began the attack at 6 p.m. Monday, using ballistic, cruise and anti-radar missiles, as well as 218 drones and decoys. About a third of the drones were jet-powered, which are much harder to intercept than the propeller-driven version.

The main Russian targets were in the Kyiv and southern Odesa regions, the air force said in a statement.

The attack on the Odesa region, located on the Black Sea, damaged civilian infrastructure and wounded one person, regional head Oleh Kiper said.

Two residential buildings were damaged, while a fire broke out at a textile factory. Russian forces also struck the Orlivka international ferry crossing on the border with Romania, he said.

Russia also shelled the northern Zhytomyr region, starting fires at an industrial facility and a warehouse, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said.

In the capital, first responders worked to clear rubble from damaged apartment buildings and free trapped residents.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its air defenses overnight intercepted 516 Ukrainian drones over 18 Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea.

In the Leningrad region, the drone attack sparked a fire in the port of Ust-Luga, Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said, as Ukraine extended its campaign to hurt Russia's oil sector, which is a mainstay of the economy.

Ust-Luga is one of Russia’s largest oil and gas export terminals more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away from Ukraine. It has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks this year.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)