Omaha, Nebraska, police fatally shoot a woman who grabs a child and slashes him with a knife

Omaha police work outside a Walmart store at South 72nd and Pine Streets in Omaha, Neb., on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, after police fatally shot a woman who was accused of cutting a young child’s face with a knife. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police on Tuesday shot and killed a woman they say slashed a young boy with a knife outside of a Walmart after taking him from another woman inside the store.

The suspect approached a female shopper and a 2- or 3-year-old boy, then displayed a large knife she had shoplifted from the store and “took possession of the child, essentially kidnapping the child,” Deputy Chief Scott Gray said.

The suspect told the woman to walk in front of the shopping cart, and she followed with the child at knifepoint, Gray said. They proceeded out of the store and down a driveway where the two women had “some verbal back and forth” for several minutes until officers arrived, Gray said.

After receiving a 911 call, police arrived outside the Walmart and gave the suspect commands, at which point she began “swiping the knife at the child, cutting him across the face, ” Gray said. At least one officer fired at the suspect, and she died at the scene.

Body-worn camera images police released show the woman raising a knife over the young boy sitting in a shopping cart as the officer aims a gun at her.

The child was being treated at a hospital for a large laceration across the left side of his face and to a hand, Gray said. He is expected to survive.

It is unclear what provoked the suspect. Gray said the two women did not know each other. The relationship between the boy and his caretaker wasn’t clear.

Police are reviewing video from the store. The event appears to be an isolated incident, Gray said. The Walmart was largely empty as police continued their investigation, he said.

The actions inside the store wouldn’t necessarily have drawn attention from other shoppers, he said.

“They kind of just purposely but casually walk out of the store, so I don’t think anybody was actually looking at them as being a suspect of anything,” Gray said.

The police shooting will be investigated by Omaha police with help from the Nebraska State Patrol and the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office.