Shopping with kids can be stressful for plenty of reasons, and keeping them safe is always top of mind. Putting young kids in a shopping cart can alleviate some of the stress because they are contained to one space where we can keep a very close eye on them. An April 14, 2026, trip to a Nebraska Walmart took a terrifying turn for one family, however, and it ended with a crazed woman being shot by police while attempting to kidnap a toddler. It’s one of the scariest things we’ve seen in a very long time and will certainly make many parents pause.
The incident terrified shoppers.
According to a release from the Omaha Police Department posted on social media, it began to receive 911 calls about an incident at the Walmart at 1606 S 72nd Street just after 9 a.m. One caller asked for help but stopped communicating with dispatchers. Another called to report a woman with a “large kitchen knife” and a toddler in a cart. Officers rushed to the store and immediately stopped their cruiser near the south parking lot, where they say the woman was standing with the knife.
Police instructed her to put down the knife.
The suspect, later identified as 31-year-old Noemi Guzman, was told to put down the knife. She allegedly made several threats while refusing to comply with the officers’ demands, which seemed to leave them with no choice.
“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,” police reported in the news release. “The child’s guardian, along with a bystander, immediately removed the child from the cart and rendered aid to him. Officers began lifesaving measures on Ms. Guzman; however, she was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Guzman reportedly stole the knife prior to the attack.
Police reviewed store surveillance and saw Guzman shoplifting the knife. She then reportedly approached the child and his guardian and forced them out of the store. Thankfully, police arrived at the right time and thwarted any further injury to the innocent child.
“The responding officers acted with professionalism and direct action to intervene and save a child’s life,” Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer shared in the news release. “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.”
Police arrested Guzman in 2024 in another violent incident.
Guzman allegedly doused her father, Octavio Guzman, with a flammable liquid and then cut him with a knife, KETV reported at the time. Guzman left the home and went to St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church, where she broke into the rectory and began destroying property.
Following the attack, her family told KETV she had a history of schizophrenia, and they felt helpless.
“She’s not right, she’s not right. She needs help,” Octavio Guzman said at the time. “We don’t have the bed space and even when we do have the bed space, we may not have the staff,” Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson said.
Crystal Rhoades, clerk of the District Court, echoed the sheriff’s sentiment. “The Board of Mental Health is limited in the tools at their disposal. They need more beds, meds, and doctors to provide the care needed for these patients,” she told KETV at the time.
That was in 2024. Just two years later, Guzman’s dead, never having gotten the help she so desperately needed. Mental health is so important and desperately underfunded. What would they be saying if that child were seriously injured? Or worse, died? Who would be to blame?
