Police officers in Omaha, Nebraska, faced with a deranged woman who had kidnapped a 3-year-old boy and was threatening him with a knife in a store parking lot, told her to drop her weapon.
She responded by slashing the boy, and the officers fired their service weapons, killing her.
Now the Omaha, Nebraska, police department has confirmed its investigations team is reviewing the circumstances.
The woman who was shot, identified as Noemi Guzman, 31, was a veteran of police reports, according to the Gateway Pundit, and in fact she allegedly previously had attacked her own father with a knife, set fire to his home, broke into a Catholic church rectory.
.@OmahaPolice have released a previous booking photo for Noemi Guzman. pic.twitter.com/8gwM4Qsb5W
— Omaha Scanner (@omaha_scanner) April 14, 2026
“Despite the severity of those crimes, Judge Russell Derr released her on a personal recognizance bond,” the report documented.
The Right Angle News Network described Guzman as a “rabid anti-ICE leftist.”
Newly uncovered social media posts from Noemi Guzman, the woman who abducted a 3-year-old boy at knifepoint and stabbed him at an Omaha Walmart before being fatally shot by police, show she was a rabid anti-ICE leftist. pic.twitter.com/dvw0xd6Cjv
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) April 15, 2026
She had been determined by the courts to be not responsible by reason of insanity for assault, arson, burglary and criminal mischief.
“Instead of prison, a judge assigned her a community-based treatment plan in 2025, which included outpatient therapy and living with her family. She was scheduled for an annual court review on June 12, 2026, to evaluate her progress, but this hearing was superseded by the fatal incident at the Omaha Walmart on April 14, 2026,” the report said.
The police department report said officers responded to a call for assistance at a Wal-Mart parking lot, regarding a “woman armed with a ‘large kitchen knife’ with a young child.”
Officers reported she was making multiple threats with the knife.
“Officers gave multiple verbal commands for Ms. Guzman to drop the knife. She refused to drop the weapon and cut the boy. The two patrol officers fired their service weapons striking Ms. Guzman. The child’s guardian, along with a bystander, immediately removed the child from the cart and rendered aid to him.”
🚨 NEW 🚨 previously arrested woman (Noemi Guzman) slashes toddler in Omaha. pic.twitter.com/APJDHBmATs
— wuhan.solo (@RealWuhanSolo) April 15, 2026
Guzman was pronounced dead at the scene, and the boy, whose name was not released, was hospitalized with injuries that are considered not life-threatening.
The report said Guzman had shoplifted the knife from the store, then approached the child and his guardian in an aisle, brandished the knife and forced them into the parking lot.
Todd Schmaderer, the Omaha police chief, said, “The responding officers acted with professionalism and direct action to intervene and save a child’s life. The community can be reassured in knowing that Omaha police officers stand ready to act with courage and decisiveness in the most serious situations to protect the public.”
Per department procedure, the officers are on leave and will be interviewed at a later date.
