A woman armed with a kitchen knife was fatally shot by police officers Tuesday after slashing a 3-year-old boy in a shopping cart outside a Walmart in Omaha, Nebraska, authorities said.

The woman, identified by police as Noemi Guzman, 31, was shot after refusing to drop the knife and then cutting the boy, according to an Omaha Police Department press release.

The boy was reunited with his guardian and taken to the hospital for injuries that were not considered life-threatening, police said.

Omaha police released this still photo taken from an officer’s body-worn camera showing the moment officers confronted 31-year-old Noemi Guzman in a Walmart parking lot.
Omaha Police Department

The parents of Cyler Hillman, the injured child, said it has been difficult to process what happened for the family, including his siblings.

“I think it’s been rough, a lot of the what ifs of what if it could have gone a different way,” his mother, Sara Hillman, told reporters on Wednesday.

The boy’s father, Casey Hillman, said that if the officers “wouldn’t have reacted when they did, we wouldn’t still have him.”

Sara, Casey and Cyler Hillman are shown during a press briefing on April 15, 2026.
KTEV

He continued, “And if she would have been any lower with the knife, we wouldn’t have him either.”

Casey Hillman said it has been very “emotional” and “stressful” in the wake of the incident. Cyler — described as a “fighter” ever since his premature birth — didn’t want to go outside on Wednesday because it’s “scary,” his father said.

“That broke my heart,” he said. “Then he asked me if I’d carry him if he went outside. ‘Yeah, I ain’t gonna let nothing happen to you.’”

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The incident unfolded Tuesday morning. Omaha police were called to the Walmart on 72nd Street shortly before 9:15 a.m. after receiving 911 calls about a woman armed with a “large kitchen knife,” according to the police press release.

Store surveillance footage showed Guzman shoplifting the knife from inside the store and then approaching the child and his guardian and brandishing the knife, according to police.

Police said Guzman forced the guardian to walk ahead of the cart while the little boy remained inside, directing the guardian through the store and into the parking lot, where officers arrived shortly thereafter.

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“Ms. Guzman was making multiple threats with the knife,” police said in the press release. “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 responding officers acted with professionalism and direct action to intervene and save a child’s life,” Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said in a statement. “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.”

The incident remains under investigation. The case will ultimately be presented to a grand jury, as required when a person dies while being apprehended by law enforcement or in custody, the Omaha Police Department said.