Grandma struggled with mental illness

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Grief is mixing with disbelief as stunned friends, neighbors and relatives are coming to grips with a horrific incident in Riverside. Police say a 38-year-old woman stabbed her 4-year-old grandson to death then threatened police with butcher knives before an officer was forced to gun her down.

Friends and neighbors tell News 4 the grandmother had some serious mental health issues. Everyone knew and loved the 4-year-old boy, Roderick "Manny" Geiger, III. Buffalo Police say he was stabbed to death Wednesday by his own grandmother, Charlene Fears.

Officer Robert Yeates, a 27-year veteran of the force, shot Fears as he and his partner were trying to tend to Manny.

Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda said, "While doing their initial investigation, calling for an ambulance, they were confronted by a suspect covered in blood, a knife in each hand, who advanced towards them after being repeatedly told to 'Stop, drop the weapons.'"

One day later, disbelief and sadness lingers over Esser Avenue. Neighbors say the door to Fears' house was always open; she welcomed all the neighborhood kids in, as her own.

Stacy Lang said, "She loved her children. She loved her grandson. She would have dozens of teenagers at her house, just so her kids would be in the house, safe. The neighborhood got bad over here."

Darryl Shelton said, "I didn't believe it was true. First, I was like, 'I know Manny's not dead.' Then... they said Char did it. I was like, 'I know she didn't do it, because she was a loving grandmother. She was never that type of person.'"

Yeates is on administrative leave. According to Derenda, investigation so far shows Yeates was justified in shooting.

"It's not an easy thing for an officer to take someone's life. They don't come to work to shoot someone. But at times, it does take place, and they have to deal with it. I'm sure it's very difficult," Derenda said.

Fears had been hospitalized for mental problems in the last two months, according to Lang.

"I believe that she wasn't thinking at the time. Had she been thinking, Manny would be here today," she said.