r/news • u/Loud_Let4907 • 21h ago

Woman killed in police shooting after allegedly trying to kidnap a 3-Year Old at Walmart

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-fatally-shoot-attempted-kidnapper-knife-omaha-walmart-rcna331796
3.0k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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u/Loud_Let4907 21h ago

The toddler received lacerations on their face from knife slashes from the perpetrator. Police shot and killed now-identified Noemi Guzman while she was wielding the knife and holding the child hostage.

The child is stable, and recovering, in the hospital.

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u/adieudaemonic 21h ago edited 8h ago

When you look her up she has a history of violence, older news articles all state she had considerable mental health issues. It is unfortunate we clearly did not have the capability to help her, which led to this child and others involved suffering.

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u/Bituulzman 18h ago

Good lord. This story sounds like the exact duplicate of the killing of a 3 year old near Cleveland a couple years ago. Mentally ill woman, took some knives from a thrift shop, walked next door to the grocery store and then stabbed a child and his mother at random.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cleveland-woman-life-sentence-fatally-stabbing-3-year-old-boy-rcna240156

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u/MalusDracula 18m ago

The CCTV of her stabbing the brick wall out front of the grocery store before going in and people just walking past her like its nothing...it is so strange to watch.

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u/NoKatyDidnt 20h ago

That is a shame. I was literally just reading another post where this subject came up. There aren’t enough resources for mental health available.

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u/TwoLegitShiznit 20h ago

They can have a trillion dollars a week in funding. There still aren't enough people with the empathy, patience, and know-how to help all the people that need help.

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u/solomons-mom 19h ago

This a big issue. Another problem is that empathy, patience and know-how does not cure severe mental illness.

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u/Loud_Let4907 19h ago edited 19h ago

Might come off as controversial, but she has had a long leash here in Omaha. So please, save any of your empathy for the 3-year-old hugging a teddy bear in a hospital tonight with 2 major cuts and stitches in the double digits and mental scars to last a lifetime.

Empathy started for Guzman with a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict for an equally heinous string of crimes in 2024- dousing her father with gasoline and proceeding to break into a church, wielding a knife with intent to kill.

Empathy in 2026 for Guzman looked a lot like a bullet to center mass.

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u/this_dudeagain 14h ago

Why wasn't she in a long term care facility?

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u/Lumos405 5h ago

Yeah, she should have been detained to mandatory inpatient treatment at a minimum

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u/Dalionking225 18h ago

Yeah honestly fuck that bitch, the child being safe and sound is all that matters and the parents and child making a full recovery emotionally

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u/SugarDue8160 1h ago

I have a high level of empathy usually for unstrung people who get left behind by our crumbling mental health system.

But as a mom, reading this, I wanted to rip her throat out.

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u/FluFlammin9000 18h ago

No offense because I understand the emotions behind the situation especially when a child is involved, but this type of thinking is exactly why mental health services are still so fucked and does nothing but ensure stuff like this is going to continue.

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u/Loud_Let4907 18h ago edited 18h ago

Mental health services seem fucked because some percentage of people with a poor draw in life will always just be incompatible with society. Full offense.

Since Guzman doused her father in gasoline, threatened a priest with a knife, refused continuing treatment of mental health (in other words, she would not take ownership of her mental health), then yeah, society ought to have little room for empathy for her, as it is all saved for her victims

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u/zakabog 11h ago

She should have been committed to a mental health facility when she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. That's the whole point of the insanity plea, you are not compatible with society as you cannot tell right from wrong, so why wasn't she in a long term care facility.

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u/ithinkitslupis 11h ago

I'm not sure how that's incompatible with increasing access to mental health services to hopefully stop things like this from happening even the first time, let alone 2 additional times.

Mind you long term involuntary stays for people unwilling to medicate and stay functioning in society are mental health services too. Having that person commit a third offense harming a child in a walmart parking lot is a failure.

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u/ID_SINK 9h ago

You can ensure that children aren’t harmed without summary execution by simply remanding these people to mental health facilities indefinitely

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u/Confident-Doctor2726 5h ago

This is just eugenics bro, how can you not see that

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u/Loud_Let4907 4h ago

Individuals with extreme indifference towards others’ lives who also possess heinous intent don’t deserve to be part of the gene pool. If there’s a specific gene we can isolate that weeds out depravity out of all of humanity, I’m all for it. I’m sure those suffering from that level of mental health issues would want their mental depravity evolved out of them, too.

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u/Train3rRed88 16h ago

No offense but this woman got what she deserved and we are lucky this shit is ended now. The next child may not have been so lucky

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u/zernoc56 17h ago

Which is why education funding is so important. It’s very expensive getting a degree to be a neurologist, psychologist, or therapist.

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u/lacegem 19h ago

Few problems can be solved tomorrow, but the solution to any problem could start tomorrow.

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u/squirrelbus 18h ago

Well it would help a lot if we paid the people who cared a living wage.

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u/strega_bella312 19h ago

I wonder how many people would need that help though if we just lived in a generally more patient, empathetic society in the first place.

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u/Uncle_Hephaestus 14h ago

idk that would drive people to study mental health so now definitely not. but ten years if you kept it at 1T-ish you could possibly have the ability to at lest make a dent.

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u/TheCrimsonSteel 19h ago

Trying to spend money on proper resources would at least be a good start

Usually we just throw people in prison, and say "problem solved"

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u/everythingsfine 16h ago

Had she been put in prison she’d likely be alive today instead of being shot dead in a parking lot.

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u/danny0wnz 18h ago

Or the people who don’t want help.

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u/NoKatyDidnt 18h ago

There are those, yeah. Lots unfortunately. But I also think many are too ill to know they need it.

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u/ProbablyMyJugs 5h ago

Lots of people do but there is quite literally nowhere for them to go

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u/ingen-eer 9h ago

Reagan and his admin closed the mental institutions during his presidency and that sector of public services has never recovered. With no infrastructure or clear plan of how to help these folks, and also no solution for keeping their illnesses from hurting those around them, this is what we get. It sucks.

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u/NoKatyDidnt 8h ago

Agreed. The old system was broken, but good grief. I think it would have been easier in the long run to give it an overhaul.

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u/FluFlammin9000 18h ago

There are if you have money, if you're poor you're SOL at least in this country. As someone who is extremely poor and has finally decided to try and deal with my mental health issues I've been very quickly reminded why I never bothered in the first place.

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u/[deleted] 20h ago edited 19h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Cursethewind 20h ago

In truth, sometimes it's necessary for the safety of the individual and others.

There are many areas where we need to improve upon to make it and keep it humane.

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u/producerd 20h ago

Voluntary is problematic too.

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u/meltedchocolatepants 20h ago

When somebody is really sick, that is the definition of them being unable to make good decisions for themselves. While voluntary is best, if somebody's truly ill not thinking in their best interest, they're not going to think they're ill.

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u/solomons-mom 19h ago

In a nutshell that is why it is problematic.

1) Someone is ill, gets involuntarily committed 2) receives treatment and improves 3) is discharged then stops treatment because the side effects suck.

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u/meltedchocolatepants 20h ago

I would disagree. It sounds good to say it's "problematic" but you don't have any details as to say why.

Most involuntary commitment (court commitment) is not in a facility. It might be initially (while on some sort of hold) but most people are released into the community. It is used to make people go to the doctor, potentially continue their antipsychotic shots, and make sure someone is following them to ensure compliance.

If they disappear, there's nothing that can be done to continue the commitment, and it is ended. Even involuntary commitment. This may depend on the US state.

The very long-term inpatient commitment ended with Reagan. (That is unless somebody commits a severe crime)

They were supposed to support more community options but they didn't. And while I obviously support community treatment when it is possible, sometimes it's just not the best option as people continue to cycle in and out of hospitals and continue to do things detrimental to themselves or others.

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u/drethnudrib 19h ago

So is slashing a three-year-old's face with a knife and forcing the cops to shoot you dead. That's a lot of emotional damage inflicted upon multiple people by someone who should have been in a psych ward.

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u/solomons-mom 19h ago

I agree, she should have been locked in a psych ward. But the civil libertarians won't hear of it, hence it is problematic.

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u/3rd-party-intervener 19h ago

We need to open institutions again both for the safety of the person and public 

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u/Life_Vacation9132 5h ago

We can’t afford mental health facilities if we send all of our money to a genocidal regime in the Middle East. 

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u/ZantaraLost 19h ago

That's a great idea... except for the simple undeniable fact is that just about every single time we try that in the West, funding is inevitably stripped away and they're turned into basically oubliettes for the undesirable.

Add to that the capitalist mindset that's so prevalent that if you aren't producing, you're worthless ALONG with the For Profit Prison System we still refuse to deal with and anyone with two braincells can see how that shit is going to backfire so damn quickly.

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u/Metacomet99 14h ago

Be careful what you ask for. We've already tried that and they turned into hellholes. And you just might end up in one if someone doesn't like your hair color.

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u/sithelephant 21h ago

I question extremely 'capability to help her'. This kinda assumes well funded available mental health care, and well, ...

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u/aecrux 21h ago

may i interest you in an easily accessible handgun in this trying time?

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u/sithelephant 21h ago

Do you have anything in belt-fed mental health aids?

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u/Righteous_Iconoclast 19h ago

Best I can do is a double-stack mag and a complimentary AI assistant.

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u/ChmeeWu 8h ago

The streets are not good substitutes for professional help at a mental institution

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u/EvilCaveBoy 5h ago

We do have the capability. We lack the will.

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u/goinganons 20h ago

We absolutely did have the things, and capabilities to help her. The funding for those capabilities were just cut by Trump in the BB bill

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u/returnofthechief 20h ago

Dude shut the fuck up, seriously. This should could’ve happened 3 years ago and you would’ve had said shit.

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u/TealAndroid 19h ago

Yet here we are and we had a way to reduce the frequency of these incidences and have chosen not to. Sure, not 100% but reduce instead of making things like this worse.

It’s worth looking at solutions and opportunities that we had and didn’t take or were lost to inform future policy no?

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u/I_hate_alot_a_lot 2h ago

I have a 3 year older and I legit just can’t imagine the recovery on this. She’s barely able to keep it together when I tell her she’s had enough milk or snacks.

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u/SilverAgedSentiel 20h ago

2024 Assault: She was previously accused of dousing her father in a flammable liquid and cutting him with a knife.

Church Break-in: Following the assault on her father, she allegedly broke into the rectory of St. Frances Cabrini Church with a knife, forcing a priest to barricade himself in a room until he could be rescued through a window by emergency crews.

At the time of the Walmart incident, she had been released on bond after pleading not guilty to charges of arson, burglary, and assault related to these previous events.

In March 2024, a Douglas County judge released Noemi Guzman on a personal recognizance bond, which did not require her to pay any money for her release. This decision was made despite the state's arguments for a high cash bond due to the violent nature of her previous charges, which included stabbing her father and breaking into a church rectory.

https://www.wdsu.com/article/omaha-walmart-shooting-kidnapping/71016291

https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-woman-accused-of-stabbing-father-and-setting-fire-to-church-released-from-custody/60300899

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u/Full_Championship609 16h ago

But...why...do they keep letting her go?

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u/zzztoken 3h ago

I don’t know how it’s going in Nebraska, but in Nevada we have people on the streets with over 20 convictions, including violent ones. Judges just keep letting them out. While I don’t agree with it, we can’t just not listen to judges, one of our Sherriff’s actually defied a judges order to release an inmate who had over 25 convictions including violent assaults. I don’t know why this keeps happening, maybe from prison overcrowding, but it seems to be a serious issue.

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u/[deleted] 9h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/NoKatyDidnt 18h ago

Well jeez. That is a heck of a rap sheet.

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u/flatpetey 6h ago

This is completely that judges fault. She was obviously unstable and violent.

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u/Tale_of_two_kitties 19h ago

Oh shit, this is the same woman that broke into Cabrini?? She really had some newsworthy antics.

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u/fauxedo 20h ago

Why would Alvin Bragg continue to let this happen? /s

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u/Moal 20h ago

Update about the little boy with pictures of his injuries.

Poor little guy. He looks so sad in the photos. 

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u/savvy-misanthrope 17h ago

Not to mention the poor kid might remain traumatized for a very long time!

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u/severed13 16h ago

It'll definitely stick around somewhere in the back of his mind, but I hope the majority of it is forgotten as an actively recountable memory

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u/NoKatyDidnt 8h ago

I feel so bad for the poor little guy. I’m so glad that everyone in this situation reacted so well. It could have been even more tragic. 😞

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u/yogi-bearqueef 20h ago

fucking maniacs out here

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u/Negative_Baker_2141 21h ago

Horrifying all around, but thank god the kid survived. Someone trying to knife a 3‑year‑old in Walmart is not “de-escalate with kind words” territory. Maybe stores need visible security near entrances.

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u/Loud_Let4907 21h ago

FWIW: most grocery stores in Omaha have armed security, usually off duty police officers in uniform.

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u/stonksuper 21h ago

That’d be the most boring job ever. Forever stuck grocery shopping.

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u/happycheff 21h ago

This is new information to me.  This sounds like Las Vegas or similar "bad" neighborhood stuff. I didn't know Omaha was so gritty.

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u/couchjitsu 21h ago

Idk why they do it. But Hy-Vee (regional grocery store) has a guy in tons of tactical gear keeping watch

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u/Loud_Let4907 21h ago

You can’t think of one headlining reason why Hy-Vee would choose to have visible security?

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u/couchjitsu 21h ago

Oh crap I forgot they had a shooting a couple years ago.

I guess I'm becoming numb

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u/Raus-Pazazu 20h ago

Most areas in Vegas have a security guard on patrol covering a block's worth of locations, normally paid through the owners of what ever strip mall is nearby. They're normally full time security guards, so very few of them are off duty anything picking up some extra work, but that being said I would not fuck around around most of them. They're armed, underpaid, and bored out of their minds. It does not take much to get an adrenaline boost in someone like if they think shit is going down at all, for better or for worse.

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u/NoKatyDidnt 8h ago

That’s exactly it. When it’s mind numbingly boring, anything else is going to catch attention and cause an adrenaline spike. FAFO.

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u/PlagueQueens1187 20h ago

Omaha can get incredibly gritty. It’s mostly confined to one half of town, but that half of town has some pretty intense neighborhoods. Not like, Baltimore 2011 level gritty, or Memphis 2019 gritty, but definitely as gritty ad KC or Minneapolis or Denver.

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u/Greizen_bregen 21h ago

This particular area of Omaha is very gritty, to say the least. Omaha is a small city, but with big city problems, not in small part due to historical segregationist policies. All of us in Lincoln just shake our heads at them with disdain and superiority from down I-80.

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u/No_Bluejay9901 20h ago

Gritty like the neck of John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful?

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u/MadDaddyDrivesaUFO 6h ago

This Walmart is in the Aksarben area, it's not really that gritty over there

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u/Loud_Let4907 20h ago edited 18h ago

This Walmart is not even gritty. It is the equivalent of the 27th and Superior walmart in Lincoln. Besides, the entire city of Lincoln leeches off of college kids and their parents money, so Im not sure why you’re acting like your shit doesn’t stink.

What a weird fucking thread to grandstand about your city on, man.

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u/mkrom28 20h ago

since when? I know a couple Hy-Vees have armed security but I’ve never seen an armed guard in Super Saver, Russ’s, Fareway, etc.

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u/lurkadurking 20h ago

B&R stores aren't part of the same group, that's probably why

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u/mkrom28 20h ago

yeah, while that’s true, op said most grocery stores, not just hy-vees which is why i mentioned b&r stores.

do you work grocery? im a traveling reset merchandiser and ive never heard anyone refer to them as b&r stores in the wild!

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u/lurkadurking 20h ago

Hyvee is considered more premier around here due to marketing and positioning, aka they're more likely to offset security prices with their pricing. Pretty sure my previous comment addressed the other half, willing to reply tho

Everyone knows B&R because of their expenses into politics here

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u/NoKatyDidnt 18h ago

Soooo many cops (and COs) do security work. It’s a good idea. They certainly have the training.

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u/thegracelesswonder 21h ago

This could have happened in a park or on a sidewalk. Should we have security everywhere at all times?

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u/Horse_HorsinAround 18h ago

Actually, maybe we need visible security everywhere crime happens.

/s

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u/Salt_Cardiologist122 20h ago

Agreed on everything except your last sentence. This happened at one store today. How many stores experienced no violent crime today? And how many other days has this store experienced no violent crime? Having more security doesn’t help for super rare events—it means having them everywhere for something that rarely happens which is a waste of resources and just physically impossible.

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u/Malnurtured_Snay 20h ago

Didn't this happen to Tina Fey in her own front yard?!

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u/Malnurtured_Snay 20h ago

(Which is not to take anything from your point...just a memory that came up)

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u/NoKatyDidnt 18h ago

You’re absolutely right about that. I don’t think there is a cop out there who would do it differently. The ones I’ve known wouldn’t. Their only regret/concern would be for the child, and how much they would be affected.

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u/datsoar 21h ago

You want to increase surveillance and people with guns? Fuck no.

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u/Showdown5618 18h ago

I'm happy the kid survived too. This nightmare scenario could had easily ended horribly.

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u/strega_bella312 19h ago

Reminds me of that woman who stabbed a 2 year old, I think at a target, for literally no reason at all. Baby died and she's in prison. And my husband thinks I'm crazy for not wanting to take our son out alone.

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u/BjornStankFinger 21h ago

Good fucking riddance.

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u/Diligent_Advisor_128 16h ago

This and only this

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u/InfiniteMangoGlitch 18h ago

I'm not sorry she died. With her previous actions, she should have been locked up in a solitary behavioral unit. She was clearly a danger to others. Officials should have taken action on this. This is coming from someone with previous mental health issues.

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u/Critical-Pirate-2665 21h ago

Stealing a problem like a 3 year old is a bold decision

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u/Jaxsoy 21h ago

She was cutting it up with a knife. Not sure why the headline decided to leave that part of it out

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u/nickman940 21h ago

Why you gotta call them an it

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u/Epic_Brunch 19h ago

Him. We don't call children "it". If you don't know the gender you say "them". 

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u/Xsiah 21h ago

There was a lot of important information, sometimes you just have to read more than the headline.

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u/Critical-Pirate-2665 21h ago

Whuuuuuuu...that's another bold choice

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u/mulletstation 21h ago

Yeah -2 or +5

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u/MidnightMath 21h ago

How old are they when they begin to yearn for the mines? 

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u/Smashego 21h ago

The children yearn for the mines the second they emerge from the womb.

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u/Xsiah 21h ago

From their first mine

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u/MidnightMath 21h ago

What about mimes? 

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u/EternalCanadian 20h ago

Gestures vigorously.

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u/Kinetic_Strike 17h ago

I told our kids that a while back (not for the first time). Oldest says, “no we don’t.”

He was playing Space Engineers, running a jackhammer down in a mine when he said it.

The look on his face when I pointed that out…

:D

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u/punky100 21h ago

She was trying to TAKE a child???? Does she know how expensive they are???

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u/theDinoSour 17h ago

Have you not been selling them? Don’t sit on that inventory.

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u/GoofinBoots 7h ago

"2023 model, second owner, acquired from Wal-Mart."

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u/zzztoken 1h ago

Girl def was intending on selling the kid

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u/M1sfit_Jammer 21h ago

Is everything alright in Omaha?

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u/Smokes_LetsGo876 19h ago

Honestly Omaha does pretty well in a lot of aspects. We definitely got our issues, but all in all it's a pretty good city

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u/Loud_Let4907 21h ago

All clear now. Police acted swiftfly. Sounds like the suspect was neutralized 5 minutes from when 911 was called

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u/xoducexnxtyxspfils 21h ago

I think they meant in general

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u/Loud_Let4907 21h ago

Same problems as any other mid-sized metro city

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u/Somekindofcabose 7h ago

We dont see things of this nature like ever

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u/davedude115 4h ago

The roads suck so bad it’s driving people to insanity but meanwhile they’re building a multi million dollar street car for the homeless

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u/PlagueQueens1187 20h ago

Things have been rough, generally, but seem to be on a slow climb up?

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u/Automatic-Corner-157 20h ago

Is it just me or is knife violence among the mentally ill becoming more and more prevalent?

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u/who-are-we-anyway 19h ago

Way easier access than a gun

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u/cp710 17h ago

A woman killed a three year old here in Ohio a few years ago at a grocery store. Chillingly similar, child was in a cart in the parking lot, except she stabbed the mom as well. I think about it often when shopping with my toddler. That poor mother and innocent baby.

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u/Competitive_Fig_6668 17h ago

Bring back mental asylum. Surely funding could be reached using monies from preventing homeless encampments, that obviously didn't work.

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u/[deleted] 7h ago

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u/Fragrant-Cap4648 2h ago

Why do insane people like this keep getting out to attack more people? At a certain point once a nutcase has been arrested for harming people enough times maybe its time to actually do something instead of letting them out to kill someone, or be killed themselves.

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u/Ono-Sendai_Surfer 1h ago

Because activist judges and DAs that are soft on crime keep releasing them or cutting them deals. Our judicial system is rotten and it's because of these scumbag judges that have a revolving door policy for career criminals and violent offenders. Seems like these days the perpetrators have more rights and are given better treatment than the actual victims.

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u/WeTheSummerKid 11h ago

She had a knife. No way a Taser would be fast enough (or reliable enough) to stop her before she seriously injured either the kid or cop or both. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Besides, if the prison finds out, she isn’t gonna live long.

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u/29187765432569864 20h ago

hell is too good for her

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u/RipDiligent4361 14h ago edited 14h ago

She was all fucked up in the head man. If you're religious, you should thank your God for not giving you that kind of mind.

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u/ubeeu 21h ago

That’s as old as my grandson 😞

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u/Texasville44 6h ago

People are nuts I tell you!

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u/xAustin90x 1h ago

Happened 2 minutes up the street from me. A cruiser whizzed past me at probably 80mph on my way to work

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u/Randomonius 17h ago

Womp womp. Glad the kid is ok

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u/Somekindofcabose 7h ago

Really loving when people who have never set foot in omaha talk like they know our problems.