PROSPER (Texas), Feb 11 — A 23-year-old British woman was shot and killed by her father at his Texas home in January 2025 after the pair argued about Donald Trump, a coroner’s court in England has heard.
According to the BBC, Lucy Harrison, from Warrington, Cheshire, died from a gunshot wound to the chest on January 10, 2025, in Prosper, near Dallas.
Her father, Kris Harrison, was not criminally charged after a grand jury in Texas’s Collin County declined to indict him.
An inquest into her death opened at Cheshire Coroner’s Court yesterday.
Lucy’s boyfriend, Sam Littler, who was present during the visit, testified that a “big argument” about Trump—who was preparing for a second presidential inauguration—occurred that morning.
Littler stated Lucy became upset when her father spoke about gun ownership.
During the argument, Lucy asked her father, “How would you feel if I was the girl in that situation and I’d been sexually assaulted?”
Kris Harrison reportedly replied that “he had two other daughters who lived with him so it would not upset him that much,” after which Lucy became “quite upset” and went upstairs.
Littler told the court that approximately 30 minutes before they were due to leave for the airport, Kris Harrison took Lucy by the hand and led her into his ground-floor bedroom. About 15 seconds later, Littler heard a loud bang, followed by Kris Harrison screaming for his wife.
In a statement read to the court, Kris Harrison gave a different account of the moments before the shooting. He said they were watching a news item about gun crime when he told Lucy he owned a gun and asked if she wanted to see it.
He stated they went to the bedroom where he retrieved a Glock 9mm semi-automatic handgun from a bedside cabinet.
“As I lifted the gun to show her I suddenly heard a loud bang,” his statement said. “I did not understand what had happened. Lucy immediately fell.”
He acknowledged he could not recall if his finger was on the trigger and denied ever discussing the gun with his daughter before.
The inquest heard Kris Harrison had a history of alcohol addiction and had relapsed on the day of the shooting.
He admitted in his statement to drinking about 500ml of white wine because he was emotional about his daughter leaving.
Police officer Luciana Escalera noted the smell of alcohol on Harrison’s breath when responding to the incident.
CCTV footage confirmed he purchased two 500ml cartons of Chardonnay from a 7-Eleven store shortly before 1pm local time that day.
At the inquest, a lawyer for Kris Harrison applied for coroner Jacqueline Devonish to recuse herself, suggesting a “real possibility she was biased.”
The application was opposed by a lawyer for Lucy’s mother, Jane Coates, who called it an “ambush.” The coroner refused the application.
In a statement issued through his solicitors, Kris Harrison said he “fully accepted” the consequences of his actions.
“There isn’t a day I don’t feel the weight of that loss, a weight I will carry for the rest of my life,” he said.
Lucy Harrison’s mother, Jane Coates, described her daughter, who worked as a buyer for the fashion brand Boohoo, as a “real force of life.”
“She cared. She was passionate about things. She loved to have debates about things that meant a lot to her,” Coates said.
The inquest was adjourned and is expected to conclude today, with the coroner’s findings.
