According to police, a two-year-old boy was walking back from the bathroom on the concourse with his aunt when 19-year-old Marivel Salazar reportedly approached the two, saying 'hello' to the little boy.
"She did what a lot of people do, they talk to the young children they encounter," said Sergeant Cassandra Davis of the Little Rock Police Department. "Then things suddenly snapped."
According to officers' reports and witness accounts, Salazar grabbed the little boy and began running down the concourse toward the airport baggage claim.
"I heard just terrible screams. As a father, I knew that wasn't fake, the little boy was screaming for his life," witness Dave Edmondson told us by phone. "The mother was screaming that she [Salazar] was trying to kill her child."
Edmondson had been roughly 150 feet away, only at Little Rock because of an emergency landing.
"As a father, my instincts just kicked in and I tried to intervene," he said. "I've been wondering why I was even there."
According to Edmondson he found Salazar lying on top of the boy, apparently smothering him.
"I'll never forget the look on that child's face," Edmonson said. "I had to help him. So I may have gotten a little rough with her"
Edmondson was able to strong arm the boy away from Salazar and return the two-year-old to his mother. Police arrived shortly therafter and restrained the woman.
Edmondson and the police report state Salazar was screaming "Jesus protect my family. Jesus protect the children."
Another witness caught the aftermath and screaming on video.
"It was alarming. And disturbing. She didn't look like she would be a threat. She looked like anyone you might see at the airport," said witness Keith Carpenter, who provided the cell phone video. "Thank goodness they had a group of family members there to try and intercede and cause a ruckus to get help from other bystanders."
Once police had taken Salazar in for questioning, they said she continued to talk to herself and God. Officers determined she should be evaluated for psychiatric conditions. She is under observation at UAMS.
"In this case, the family was close by and paying attention," Davis said. "A lot of times it's easy to get distracted in public, especially at the airport. In reality, you can't. They screen your bags and personal items at security, but they can't screen someone's mental state."
At Clinton National Airport on Wednesday, travelers were unaware of the incident the night before.
"In today's kind of the world how it is you want to always be watching out for your kids," said father Jeremy Arnhart, who was traveling from Anchorage, AK, with his two children. "Bad things happen that you never expect to happen to you or anyone else. But I think if you look out for your kids, and others look out for them, you'll be okay."
According to Little Rock police, Salazar remains in medical custody at UAMS. She has not been charged with a crime at this point. Little Rock police had no knowledge of Salazar having a prior record with their department, nor are they certain she's from Little Rock. She was ticketed for a flight bound to Texas before the incident.
The little boy, police say, is apparently all right.
Source-Arkansas matters