A high-ranking Westchester County police official faces attempted murder charges after she allegedly drove the getaway car for her 20-year-old son following a shooting near the Bronx Criminal Court, and it wasn't his first brush with gun violence.
Jennifer Lackard, a deputy police commissioner with the Mount Vernon Police Department, and her son Chase Lackard were arrested Tuesday morning at their home in the Soundview section of the Bronx. Police arrived with a search warrant and took both into custody on charges stemming from an alleged shooting on June 29 at 11:57 p.m., police and sources told the New York Post.
Chase Lackard allegedly opened fire on a group of rivals near the Bronx Criminal Court, then rushed into his mother's waiting car. Jennifer Lackard allegedly drove off. Nobody was injured in the shooting, police said.
Both mother and son now face five charges: attempted murder, attempted assault, criminal possession of a firearm, conspiracy, and reckless endangerment. Neither had been arraigned as of Tuesday.
Jennifer Lackard earned $138,219 last year as a deputy police commissioner in Mount Vernon, a city in Westchester County just north of the Bronx, according to the public-salary database SeeThroughNY. Her position made her one of the department's senior officials.
The Mount Vernon Police Department moved swiftly after the arrest. Fox News reported that Lackard was immediately terminated from the department following her arrest. The department issued a statement distancing itself from the allegations:
"The allegations are unrelated to her duties with the Mount Vernon Police Department and do not stem from any conduct associated with the Department or the performance of her official responsibilities."
That statement may satisfy a human resources checklist. It does nothing to explain how a senior law enforcement official allegedly ended up behind the wheel of a getaway car after a shooting.
The June 29 shooting was not Chase Lackard's first encounter with gunfire. He has been involved in at least two prior violent incidents, both in the Bronx.
In 2023, when he was 17, Chase was shot in the chest aboard a Bx5 bus in Soundview. Police said at the time that he had been fighting with three other youths on the bus, allegedly flashing gang signs and asking about their gang affiliation. He allegedly tried to drag one of them off the bus. One of the three shot him in the chest.
Then in 2024, police shot Chase after he allegedly wielded a gun during a dispute in the Clason Point area of the Bronx. That incident prompted the New York Post to report that his mother was a police official with the Mount Vernon Police Department.
So by the time of the alleged June 29 shooting near the Bronx Criminal Court, Chase Lackard had already survived being shot twice, once by a fellow teenager, once by police. He was 20 years old.
Several basic questions remain unanswered. Which law enforcement agency led the investigation and secured the search warrant for the Soundview home has not been specified in public statements. Whether any firearms were recovered during the search is also unclear. The identity and affiliation of the group Chase allegedly shot at have not been disclosed.
Chase Lackard has been described as a reputed member of a street gang called the "Slutty Gang," though the sourcing behind that characterization is not attributed to a named official. The dispositions of both the 2023 bus shooting and the 2024 police shooting have not been publicly detailed.
What is clear is the pattern. A young man with a documented history of gun violence, including being shot by police, allegedly opened fire on a public street near a courthouse. And a deputy police commissioner, a woman entrusted with upholding the law, allegedly helped him flee.
If the charges hold, this is not a case of a mother who made a split-second mistake in a moment of panic. Conspiracy is among the five counts. Prosecutors are alleging a plan.
Citizens expect the people who run their police departments to enforce the law, not to serve as accessories when their own families break it. When that trust collapses, it does not come back cheaply.
