A Mount Vernon police official who drove her son from a gang shooting moments after his court date and her ex-convict husband were indicted Tuesday on attempted murder charges.
Jennifer Lackard, 49, was fired as deputy commissioner for wellness after she and her son Chase Lackard, 20, were arrested around dawn Tuesday, Aug. 4 at their Boynton Avenue home in the Bronx.
The parents are accused of driving Chase Lackard to E. 162nd St. and Grant Avenue just after noon on June 29 at which point he allegedly fired several shots from a semiautomatic handgun out the driver’s side back window at a group of people before the car sped off.
Prosecutors said the 20-year-old appeared in Bronx court on a prior gun charge the very same day he allegedly opened fire on the group outside.
At least one person in the crowd was targeted but no one was hit, authorities said.
According to the DA’s office, the shooting was meticulously planned through text messages.
Chase texted his mom to be waiting outside court, writing, “Be directly In Fromt [sic] When I Leave.” Jennifer Lackard allegedly replied, “When?” She later allegedly texted, “You can’t just sit directly outside. It has to be timed right.”
Chase then donned a black mask and entered a tan Chrysler Pacifica with his mother and father, James Lackard, who drove the pair in circles around the Bronx Hall of Justice for about 45 minutes before pulling up behind the courthouse, where Chase fired through a rolled-down window from the car’s backseat, prosecutors said.
Following the shooting, Jennifer switched seats with her husband and drove her family to Soundview, where her son changed clothes before entering a nearby residential building on Boynton Ave, the indictment notes.
Her husband had not yet been arrested.
In court Tuesday, Jennifer’s attorney pushed back against prosecutors’ claims.
“Ms. Lackard has for 20 years dedicated her professional life to the health and healing of impacted communities,” her attorney said.
Jennifer Lackard pleaded not guilty at her arraignment Tuesday afternoon in Bronx Criminal Court, where bail was set at $75,000 cash or $150,000 bond.
A neighbor who witnessed her arrest painted a vivid picture of her reaction.
“She was shocked. She was not expecting this,” a 78-year-old neighbor, who witnessed the arrest, told the Daily News. “She wasn’t crying. She was just in shock.”
The neighbor also offered insight into her life at home with a younger disabled son.
“She knows that, because the kid is disabled.” The neighbor said before officers took Jennifer Lackard away, she asked to speak with him. Her biggest concern, he said, was her younger son, who uses a wheelchair. She asked the neighbor to look after him while she was gone. “He can’t do anything. She’s got to do everything for him.”
Until Tuesday, Jennifer Lackard had been listed as a deputy commissioner of wellness in Mount Vernon.
The Mount Vernon Police Department said Tuesday that Lackard had been terminated effectively immediately.
The department wrote on social media, “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.”
Chase Lackard’s history painted a troubling picture for prosecutors seeking to explain his gang involvement.
As previously reported at the time, he was 17 years old when he was shot in the chest during a gang-related confrontation aboard a Bronx bus in January 2023.
A chilling surveillance image from November 2024 shows the then 19-year old pointing a gun at an NYPD officer in the Bronx. An officer shot him in the leg that rainy night, and he was arrested on weapons and menacing charges.
Also arraigned in the case Tuesday was Chase Lackard’s girlfriend, Brianna Harris. Court proceedings did not detail her alleged role in the case, but she was released on her own recognizance.
In the viral moment captured in court documents and surveillance footage on June 29, prosecutors alleged the Lackard family orchestrated a coordinated gang attack moments after Chase’s court hearing in the Bronx Hall of Justice. Jennifer and James Lackard drove their son in the family’s Chrysler Pacifica to the area near the Bronx Hall of Justice on East 161st Street shortly before noon. Prosecutors allege Chase Lackard, who authorities say is affiliated with the “Slutty Gang” street gang, entered the courthouse before returning to the vehicle wearing a mask. James Lackard drove the pair in circles around the Bronx Hall of Justice for about 45 minutes before pulling up behind the courthouse, where Chase fired through a rolled-down window from the car’s backseat. At least one person in the crowd was targeted but no one was hit, authorities said.
In addition to second-degree attempted murder, all three Lackards are charged with second- and fourth-degree conspiracy, first- and second-degree criminal use of a firearm, first- and second-degree attempted assault, second- and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first- and second-degree reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a firearm.
Her bail was set at $75,000, and she is due back in court in September.