The husband of the high-ranking Mount Vernon police official accused of being her gangbanger son’s getaway driver has surrendered to face charges for his role in the Bronx attempted gang hit, police said Thursday.
James Lackard is charged with attempted murder and conspiracy for the June 29 shooting. His son, Chase Lackard, 20, allegedly opened fire on a rival gang behind the Bronx Hall of Justice just after appearing in that court for an unrelated prior gun arrest. No one was hit.
The son fled in his family’s van with his father and the accused getaway driver, his mother Jennifer Lackard, 49.
Mother and son were arrested Tuesday morning at the family’s Soundview apartment. Jennifer was fired from her job as deputy commissioner for public safety for the Mount Vernon Police Department within hours of her arrest.
Text messages detailed in court papers show the coordination between Chase, a member of the Slutty Gang, and his parents, all three of whom rode together to the courthouse and then fled together in their van.
“Be directly in Fromt (sic) When I Leave,” Chase allegedly texted his mother.
“You can’t just sit directly outside,” his mother texted Chase, according to court papers. “It has to be timed right.”
The son wound up allegedly firing from inside the van while his parents were inside with him, according to prosecutors.
Chase was ordered held without bail when he was arraigned in Bronx Supreme Criminal Court Wednesday. His mother was held in jail overnight before being released Thursday on $75,000 bail, officials said.
Jennifer could not be reached for comment Thursday, but neighbors in her doorman building defended her, saying she is a devoted mom to a second son, who is disabled.
“She was a sweetheart, as far as we knew,” one woman who lives in the building said, recalling how she used to go on power walks with Jennifer. “The whole building is shocked because we just know Jennifer as getting up (and) going to work. Why would you throw your life away? I don’t know when that good girl went bad.”
Another woman from the building said she thinks the Mount Vernon police department was too quick to fire Jennifer after her arrest.
“They shouldn’t have gotten rid of her that quick,” she said. “This isn’t proven yet.”
James was in North Carolina when his wife and son were arrested. He returned to the city and surrendered, police said. His bail was set at $150,000 when he was arraigned in Bronx Supreme Criminal Court Thursday.
James spent a decade in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute heroin in North Carolina and was freed in February 2020, records show.