Coverage spread: 2 sources — 1 left · 1 right
Lean ratings via AllSides / Media Bias-Fact-Check. How this works.
Where they agree
- Jennifer Lackard, Mount Vernon’s deputy police commissioner, and her 20-year-old son Chase were arrested together at their Bronx home and charged with attempted murder, attempted assault, gun possession, conspiracy and reckless endangerment.
- The charges stem from a June 29 shooting outside Bronx Criminal Court in which Chase allegedly fired shots and no one was hit, then fled in a car his mother was driving.
- Mount Vernon fired Jennifer Lackard immediately after the arrest, stating the allegations are unrelated to her official duties.
- Chase Lackard has a documented history of gun violence, including being shot in 2023 and shot by police in 2024, plus a prior gun arrest.
- Fox News, citing the New York Post, explicitly frames the shooting as gang-related and names Chase’s alleged gang, “Slutty Gang,” while The Guardian does not specify a gang name.
- The Guardian gives more detail on Jennifer Lackard’s exact title history (also referred to as “deputy commissioner of wellness”) and includes her 2025 salary figure from a transparency database, which Fox News omits.
- The Guardian includes more direct quotes from Mount Vernon’s mayor from past incidents (2023 and 2024), giving fuller context on the city’s prior public stance toward the family.
- Fox News leads with visual/photo documentation of past shooting incidents (bus shooting, police shooting scene), while The Guardian’s account is more text- and quote-driven.
What happened
Jennifer Lackard, 49, deputy police commissioner for wellness/safety in Mount Vernon, New York, was arrested Tuesday morning in an early raid on her home in the Bronx, along with her 20-year-old son, Chase Lackard. Both were charged with attempted murder, attempted assault, criminal possession of a firearm, conspiracy and reckless endangerment in connection with a shooting outside Bronx Criminal Court on June 29.
According to police sources cited by the New York Daily News and the New York Post, Chase Lackard opened fire on a group described as rival gang members near the courthouse. No one was struck or injured. After the shooting, he allegedly ran to a car his mother was driving, and she sped away from the scene, effectively serving as his getaway driver.
Hours after the arrest, the city of Mount Vernon announced on Instagram that it had fired Jennifer Lackard “effective immediately.” The city’s statement stressed that the allegations against her “are unrelated to her duties” and “do not stem from any conduct associated with the Department or the performance of her official responsibilities.” Her 2025 salary, according to the government transparency site See Through NY, was $138,219.
Chase Lackard’s history with gun violence
Tuesday’s arrest is not Chase Lackard’s first brush with shootings or law enforcement. In January 2023, at age 17, he was shot in the chest on a bus during a dispute reportedly tied to gang signs; a 14-year-old rival gang member was later charged with attempted murder in that case. At the time, Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard praised Jennifer Lackard as “a valuable member” of the city’s leadership team and said the city was praying for her son’s recovery.
In September 2024, Chase was arrested on a gun charge, which the mayor at the time called “a personal matter.” Then in November 2024, NYPD officers shot and wounded him, then 19, on White Plains Road in the Bronx after he allegedly pointed a 9mm pistol at an officer’s car; he was hospitalized with two gunshot wounds to the leg and was later criminally charged. Fox News, citing the New York Post, reports that Chase is allegedly a member of a gang called the “Slutty Gang.”
How the coverage differs
The Guardian frames the story primarily around the firing of a public official and lays out Chase Lackard’s history of being shot — by rivals in 2023 and by police in 2024 — with an emphasis on the mayor’s past statements defending or sympathizing with the family. Fox News, drawing heavily on New York Post reporting, puts more weight on the “gang-related” nature of the shooting, naming the alleged gang affiliation and describing the courthouse shooting as targeting “rival gang members,” a detail The Guardian does not specify as clearly. Neither outlet has an attorney’s statement on record for Lackard or her son, and neither cites official confirmation of the “getaway driver” allegation beyond anonymous police sources relayed through the Daily News or Post.
Why this case is drawing attention
The case is notable less for the shooting itself — which caused no injuries — than for the position held by one of the accused. A deputy police commissioner, even one overseeing wellness rather than operations, is a public safety official whose arrest for allegedly helping a shooter flee raises questions about oversight and trust within a police department. Mount Vernon’s swift termination, paired with its statement distancing the department from her personal conduct, suggests the city is trying to separate the criminal case from the department’s institutional standing. The repeated prior shootings involving Chase Lackard — as both victim and, allegedly, shooter — also underscore a pattern of ongoing gun violence connected to the family that predates this latest, more serious charge of attempted murder.
Sources
Featured photo: Jim.henderson via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)