Police kill woman accused of kidnapping, slashing child at Omaha Walmart
Omaha police fatally shot a woman they say kidnapped a young boy and slashed him across the face before killing her.
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, adding the slashing was captured on video. 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 "rather large laceration" across the left side of his face and to one of his hands, Gray said. He is expected to survive.