Chilling Photo Shows Moment Before Madwoman Stabs Kidnapped Toddler

(Screenshot / Omaha Police Department)

Police in Nebraska shot and killed Noemi Guzman, 31, on Tuesday. The police say Guzman slashed a toddler with a stolen knife outside of Walmart after abducting the 3-year-old from inside the store. 

The Omaha Police Department released still photos from body-worn camera footage taken at the scene of the crime. The photos show a woman wielding a large knife in one hand and grasping the side of a shopping cart with the other hand. A young blond boy sits in the seat of the cart, faced away from the camera. The woman is snarling. She appears moments away from stabbing the little boy.

(Screenshot / Omaha Police Department).

Still photos from body-worn camera footage from the scene of the stabbing on April 24, 2026. Noemi Guzman, 31, is accused of snatching a 3-year-old boy away from his guardian inside a Walmart, then forcing the boy outside. Guzman allegedly slashed the boy across the face and hand. Police officers shot and killed Guzman on the scene. (Screenshot / Omaha Police Department).

Omaha police say Guzman shoplifted the knife from inside the Walmart before approaching the boy and his guardian. Guzman “brandished the knife, and forced the guardian to walk ahead of the cart while the child remained inside” and “directed them through the store and into the parking lot,” according to police.

By the time police arrived, Guzman “was making multiple threats with the knife” and allegedly refused to drop the knife after police asked her to do so, according to the Omaha Police Department. Guzman allegedly cut the boy across the face, Deputy Chief Scott Gray said, according to The Associated Press. (RELATED: NYPD Kills Knife-Wielding Man After Violent Attack At Grand Central Station)

Two patrol officers subsequently shot and killed Guzman. The boy is being treated for a “large laceration across the left side of his face and to a hand,” according to the Associated Press. The boy’s parents told KETV that their son is their “little cowboy” and is expected to survive his injuries. 

This was not Guzman’s first run-in with the law. 

Guzman’s father, Octavio Guzman, told the police that his daughter “doused him in a flammable liquid and cut him with a knife,” early in the morning of March 3, 2024, according to an Omaha Police Blotter. The police say Noemi Guzman attempted to “light a fire inside the house and then left on foot.”

Noemi Guzman allegedly then made her way to a Catholic church and broke into the rectory, while the church’s priest was inside the building. She was “armed with a knife and destroying property inside the building. The priest barricaded himself in a second-floor room,” according to police. 

A judge released Guzman on her own recognizance on March 22, 2024, ordering her to comply with Board of Mental Health requirements and avoid the church, according to WOWT. At the time, she still faced four felonies. Guzman was later found not guilty by reason of insanity and “assigned a treatment plan,” according to WOWT. Her annual review was to take place on June 12. 

The judiciary’s decisions in this case boggle the mind. Guzman is alleged to have taken a series of insane and destructive actions. If the judge believed there was even a chance she had committed those actions, why would he risk releasing her into the community? Moreover, how can a person deemed insane be reasonably expected to adhere to a treatment plan? 

I’m reminded of Iryna Zarutska’s alleged murderer. Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr. had been arrested at least 14 times prior to allegedly killing Zarutska. His mother reportedly said Brown has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was arrested again on a misdemeanor charge of misusing 911 emergency services in January 2025, having reportedly told authorities that a “man-made material” was controlling his eating, walking, and talking. (RELATED: Man Accused Of Slaughtering Iryna Zarutska Reportedly Incompetent To Stand Trial)

Mecklenburg County Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes still reportedly released Brown after he signed a written note promising to show up at his next court hearing.

What good is the word of an evidently crazy person? 

Insanity should not be a “get out of jail free” card. It should be a ticket to a life-long stay in a psychiatric facility. Or, if that insanity drives one to commit heinous acts, a ticket to death row.

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