The 3-year-old was cut in the face and hand before police fatally shot the suspect.
OMAHA, Neb. — A 3-year-old boy was recovering after surgery Wednesday as Omaha police investigated how a woman they say he did not know took him at knifepoint from a Walmart aisle and cut him before officers shot her.
The child, identified by his family as Cyler Hillman, survived wounds to his face and hand after the Tuesday morning attack at the Walmart near South 72nd and Pine streets. Police said the woman, 31-year-old Noemi Guzman, died in the parking lot after refusing commands to drop a large kitchen knife. The encounter has left investigators tracing a short path from a store shelf to a shopping cart, then outside to a police shooting.
Cyler had been inside the store with a caretaker when police say Guzman entered, took a kitchen knife and approached them in an aisle. Deputy Chief Scott Gray said Guzman showed the weapon and took control of the boy, placing the caretaker in a crisis that unfolded in public but was not immediately clear to others nearby. Police said Guzman forced the caretaker to walk ahead while the child remained in the cart. Gray said the action amounted to a kidnapping, even though it first appeared to others like people moving through the store.
For the family, the next minutes came down to a narrow margin. Sara Hillman, Cyler’s mother, told reporters that the family was struggling with the fear of what could have happened. “I think it’s been rough, a lot of the what ifs of what if it could have gone a different way,” she said. Casey Hillman, the boy’s father, said the officers’ quick response was central to his son’s survival. “If they wouldn’t have reacted when they did, we wouldn’t still have him,” he said. The child was taken to Children’s Hospital, where family members said he underwent surgery.
Police said the emergency first reached dispatchers at 9:13 a.m. as a request for help without a full explanation. A second caller then reported a woman armed with a large kitchen knife and a young child. The first incomplete call and the second report sent officers to the Walmart, where officials said they arrived at about 9:20 a.m. near the southern parking lot entry. By then, Guzman and the caretaker had left the building. Gray said there had been verbal back and forth between the two women for several minutes outside before officers got there.
When the officers arrived, police said Guzman was standing by the shopping cart with the boy inside. Officials said she was making threats with the knife, and officers gave several commands for her to drop it. Gray said Guzman then began swiping at the child, cutting him across the face. Police said both officers fired their service weapons. Guzman was struck and later pronounced dead at the scene. The boy’s caretaker and a bystander then pulled the child from the cart and moved him to safety, according to police.
Authorities described the child’s wounds as serious but not life-threatening. Gray said he had a large cut across the left side of his face and a wound to one hand. Police said he was reunited with his guardian before being taken to the hospital. The family’s public comments came a day after the attack, as they described a child still healing and siblings trying to understand what happened. Officials did not release the caretaker’s full name, and they did not give a final medical update beyond saying the boy was expected to survive.
Police said there was no known connection between Guzman and the family. Gray said investigators had not determined what provoked the encounter. He also said the group’s walk through the store may not have looked alarming to other shoppers because Guzman, the caretaker and the cart appeared to move out in a controlled way. Store surveillance and officers’ body-worn cameras became key pieces of evidence. Police released still images that they said showed Guzman with the knife and the boy seated in the cart moments before officers fired.
The police response was praised by city leaders while the shooting review began. Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said the officers acted with “professionalism and direct action” to save a child’s life. Mayor John Ewing Jr. thanked the officers and said he was grateful for the department’s transparency. At the same time, the officers were placed on paid critical incident leave, a standard step after an officer-involved shooting. The Omaha Police Department’s Officer-Involved Investigations Team is leading the review with help from the Nebraska State Patrol and the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators also were reviewing Guzman’s history. Omaha police confirmed she was the same person accused in 2024 of stabbing her father, pouring flammable liquid on him and later breaking into the rectory at St. Francis Cabrini Church. In that case, a priest barricaded himself before officers reached him through a window, according to police accounts cited by local reports. Guzman was later found not responsible by reason of insanity. Police have not said whether mental illness, prior police contact or any other factor caused the Walmart attack.
The case now sits at several points of review. Detectives are examining store video, body-camera images, witness statements and the knife. The officers’ use of force is under investigation, and the death is expected to go before a grand jury under Nebraska procedure for deaths during apprehension or custody. For Cyler’s family, the next step is recovery. For police, the central unanswered question remains why a stranger took a child in the middle of a weekday shopping trip.
Author note: Last updated May 6, 2026.