The fatal shooting of a knife-wielding woman, who had just stabbed her grandson, by Buffalo police appears to have been justified, the police commissioner said in a news conference this morning.
Charlene M. Fears, 38, was shot to death Wednesday afternoon by Northwest District Police Officer Robert W. Yeates at her home at 193-195 Esser Ave. Yeates was accompanied by John Michael B. Mulderig, a probationary police officer.
"It appears to be justified at this point," Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda said in a news conference in Niagara Square. "I believe they were in fear for their lives."
The number of shots fired was not disclosed.
Derenda said the officers were on patrol when they were flagged down by a woman, who alerted them that a young boy had been stabbed. They found 4-year-old Roderick Geiger III, known as "Manny" to neighbors, on the front porch, bleeding profusely.
Fears was covered in blood - presumably her grandson's - and had a knife in each hand when she confronted the officers, Derenda said. She ignored repeated orders to drop the knives, and was shot as she charged toward the officers.
The boy was taken to Women & Children's Hospital, where he died. Fears was pronounced dead at the scene.
Autopsies were being performed on both today by the Erie County Medical Examiner's Office. Derenda said he didn't have any results at the time of the late morning news conference.
Derenda, citing the ongoing investigation, did not answer questions about whether Fears said anything to the officers, how many times she was hit by gunfire or how many times the boy had been stabbed.
"This is a tragedy for all involved," the police commissioner said.
The motive for Fears' attack on her grandson remains under investigation. "We have no idea why" she stabbed the child, Derenda said.
Yeates is a 26-year veteran of the department; Mulderig had graduated from the police academy July 20.
"It's not an easy thing for an officer to take someone's life," Derenda said.
As is routine in officer-involved shootings, both officers were placed on paid administrative leave, which usually lasts a day or two. In addition, an investigation is under way by the department's Homicide Bureau and Internal Affairs Division. The results of that investigation will be turned over to the Erie County District Attorney's Office.
