A New York police official earning more than $138,000 a year has been fired and charged with attempted murder after prosecutors say she and her husband helped their 20-year-old son carry out a gang-related shooting in the Bronx, and then drove him away from the scene.

Jennifer Lackard, 49, the deputy police commissioner of the Mount Vernon Police Department in Westchester County, was terminated immediately and arraigned on a grand jury indictment that also names her husband, James Lackard, and their son Chase Lackard. The charges include attempted murder, conspiracy, criminal possession of a firearm, and reckless endangerment, the New York Post reported.

The indictment lays out a coordinated family operation. On June 29 at 11:57 a.m., the Lackards allegedly drove Chase to the Concourse area of the Bronx so he could open fire on rival gang members near the Bronx Criminal Court. James Lackard sat behind the wheel. Chase rolled down a window and discharged a semiautomatic firearm multiple times onto a public street. Nobody was hit.

But the planning, prosecutors allege, started earlier, over a string of text messages between mother and son. One message attributed to Jennifer Lackard in the indictment reads: "You can't just sit directly outside. It has to be timed right." Chase Lackard allegedly texted his mother directing her to be in front of the Hall of Justice as soon as he left. After the shooting, the family stopped outside their home to change Chase's clothing before going back inside.

A $138,000 wellness chief allegedly coached her son's timing

Jennifer Lackard was not a beat cop. She led the Mount Vernon Police Department's Wellness Unit, a position created in 2022 to handle mental health crises. Public salary records from SeeThroughNY show she earned $138,219 last year. In a 2022 interview with News 12, she described the people her unit encountered:

"A lot of the people we encounter are in a mental health crisis. Some are combatant, some are really, really aggressive and some are not. And some are frequent fliers because they don't have support."

That was the public face. The indictment paints a different picture, a senior law enforcement official allegedly advising her gang-affiliated son on the logistics of a drive-by shooting.

The Mount Vernon Police Department moved quickly to distance itself. In a statement posted to Instagram, the city declared: "Effective immediately, the City of Mount Vernon has terminated Jennifer Lackard's employment." The department added that "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."

Jennifer Lackard had no prior criminal record. A judge set her bail at $75,000. Her next court date is September 25.

Chase Lackard's record includes a prior police shooting and a stabbing-bus incident

Chase Lackard is described as a reputed member of a gang called "Slutty Gang." His criminal history predates this indictment by years. In 2024, he pointed a gun at police officers during a dispute. Officers shot him twice in the leg and charged him with criminal use of a firearm and menacing a police officer. The status of that case is unclear.

A year before that, in January 2023, Chase, then 17, was shot in the chest aboard a Bx5 bus in the Soundview section of the Bronx. He had allegedly flashed gang signs at three other youths, asked about their gang affiliation, and tried to drag one of them off the bus. One of the three shot him. The case of a government official removed over serious misconduct is striking enough on its own, but the Lackard situation involves a law enforcement leader's own family allegedly engaged in violent crime under her coordination.

Chase Lackard's girlfriend, whose name has not been released, was also arrested in connection with the June 29 incident. Her specific charges have not been disclosed. James Lackard, the father, had not been arrested as of the report; he was said to be out of state.

Damon Jones calls the case 'embarrassing' and faults Democratic leadership

Damon Jones, a 33-year veteran of the Westchester County Department of Corrections and publisher of Black Westchester Magazine, did not hold back. Fox News reported on the broader fallout, and Jones directed his sharpest criticism at the political structure that put Lackard in her role.

"This is f---ing embarrassing! I am embarrassed as a black law enforcement officer to see the dysfunction in a city that has a black mayor, a majority of black city council, a majority black police department that we have to see continuing dysfunction and just foolery in an organization that should be so professional."

Jones went further, tying the problem to a pattern he sees in Democratic governance. He told the Post:

"Unfortunately, we see this with Democrats that they put people in positions, especially in law enforcement positions, that they shouldn't be there."

Jones pointed to Lackard's background in social work as insufficient for a senior law enforcement leadership role. His criticism lands harder given the specifics: a deputy police commissioner, someone entrusted with the department's wellness mission, allegedly texting tactical advice to her son before he fired a semiautomatic weapon on a Bronx street in broad daylight.

The broader pattern of government employees being removed from positions over conduct unrelated to their official duties has drawn increasing public attention. But few cases involve allegations this severe, attempted murder charges against a sitting law enforcement official, stemming from a family conspiracy to commit a gang shooting.

Mount Vernon's police department faces hard questions

Mount Vernon, a city of roughly 75,000 in Westchester County just north of New York City, has struggled with public confidence in its police department. The Lackard case adds another chapter. The department's statement tried to wall off the allegations from its operations, but the facts in the indictment make that wall thin. Jennifer Lackard was not a low-level hire. She ran a unit, earned a six-figure salary, and spoke publicly on behalf of the department as recently as 2022.

The Post's detailed account describes the incident as an elaborate, coordinated effort, text messages, seat assignments, a clothing change, a planned escape route. If the indictment's allegations hold, this was not a spur-of-the-moment lapse. It was a planned operation, and a deputy police commissioner allegedly helped run it.

Several questions remain unanswered. What court issued the grand jury indictment? Were any of the rival gang members at the scene identified or charged? What is the current status of Chase Lackard's 2024 firearms case? And how did Jennifer Lackard pass whatever vetting process Mount Vernon used before appointing her to lead a police wellness unit in 2022?

Instances of public officials losing their positions over off-duty conduct are not new. A recent departure of a White House official drew attention for different reasons, but the underlying question is the same: who gets placed in positions of public trust, and who is responsible when they fail spectacularly?

Chase Lackard was awaiting arraignment as of Tuesday afternoon. James Lackard remains at large. Jennifer Lackard is out on bail. And the city of Mount Vernon is left explaining how a deputy police commissioner ended up in handcuffs for allegedly helping her son shoot at people on a Bronx street.

When the person running your department's wellness program is allegedly coaching drive-by shootings over text, the problem is not the program, it is the people your leadership chose to trust.