Omaha police say a 31-year-old woman was shot and killed by officers Tuesday after she slashed a 3-year-old boy who was sitting in a shopping cart outside a Walmart on 72nd Street. Authorities identified the woman as Noemi Guzman.
Officers were dispatched shortly before 9:15 a.m. after multiple 911 calls about a woman armed with a large kitchen knife, the Omaha Police Department said. Store surveillance footage, the department added, shows Guzman taking the knife inside the store, then approaching the child and the child’s guardian while brandishing the weapon.
Police say Guzman forced the guardian to walk ahead of the cart as she directed them through the store and into the parking lot, where officers arrived. Officers gave repeated verbal commands for her to drop the knife; according to the department, she refused and cut the boy. Two patrol officers then fired their service weapons, striking Guzman.
The child was reunited with his guardian and taken to a hospital with injuries described by police as not life-threatening. Omaha police released a still image captured from an officer’s body-worn camera showing the officers confronting Guzman in the parking lot.
Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer praised the responding officers for taking swift action, saying their intervention was intended to protect the child and the public. The department continues to investigate the incident.