Iowa City woman arrested for threatening day care with butcher knife

An Iowa City woman brought a butcher knife to a day care to reportedly settle a dispute between her child and another child. Almhairat has been charged with two counts of child endangerment, one count of going armed with intent, and one count of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon.

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Katie Goodale

An Iowa City Police Department vehicle is seen on July 9, 2019.

Meg Doster, News Reporter


An Iowa City woman, Samahir Almhairat, 44, was arrested yesterday afternoon for bringing a butcher knife to a day care.

Almhairat faces two counts of child endangerment with no injury, going armed with intent, and assault while displaying a dangerous weapon.

The Iowa City Police Department reported that Almhairat was swinging a butcher knife while threatening individuals that she was going to hurt them at 4:45 p.m. Thursday afternoon. Almhairat claimed that she did this to settle a dispute between her child and another child that attended the day care, a police report said.

RELATED: Iowa City man accused of assaulting two University of Iowa employees at Seamans Center

When Iowa City Police arrived at Almhairat’s home, she handed the butcher knife to a child and told them to run. Police were able to disarm the child who was chasing people with the knife, according to the report.

Almhairat was then arrested by police and was booked at the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office at 5:46 p.m. Her bail has been set to $11,000.