A British woman who was fatally shot while on holiday in the United States died after what her boyfriend described as a “big argument” with her father about President Donald Trump, a UK inquest has heard.
Lucy Harrison, 23, a fashion buyer from Warrington, Cheshire, was visiting her father at his home in Prosper, Texas, when she was shot in the chest on 10 January. She had travelled to the US with her boyfriend, Sam Littler, and was due to fly back to the UK shortly after the incident.
At Cheshire Coroner’s Court, Littler told the inquest the relationship between Harrison and her father, Kris Harrison, was often strained by his political views and his decision to buy a Glock 9mm handgun several years earlier. Littler said the couple had argued in the days leading up to the shooting, and that the most serious row centred on Trump, though the precise way the former US president featured in the dispute was not made clear to the court.
According to evidence outlined in court and reports of the hearing, the disagreement escalated when Lucy Harrison raised a hypothetical scenario involving sexual assault and asked her father: “How would you feel if I was the girl in that situation and I’d been sexually assaulted?” Littler said Kris Harrison responded that it would not upset him much because he had “two other daughters” living with him, a remark that left Lucy Harrison “quite upset” before she went upstairs.
Littler told the inquest that, later the same day, a short time before the couple were expected to leave for the airport, Kris Harrison took his daughter by the hand and led her into his bedroom on the ground floor. Littler said he then heard a loud bang about 15 seconds later, followed by Kris Harrison shouting for his wife, Heather. “I remember running into the room and Lucy was lying on the floor near the entrance to the bathroom and Kris was just screaming, just sort of nonsense,” Littler said in evidence reported from the hearing.
Kris Harrison told police he had been watching the news before the shooting and offered to show his daughter the gun after a segment about gun violence. In a statement reported from the proceedings, he said: “As I lifted the gun to show her I suddenly heard a loud bang. I did not understand what had happened. Lucy immediately fell,” adding that he could not recall whether his finger was on the trigger.
The inquest heard Kris Harrison had a history of alcoholism, including a previous period in rehabilitation, and had relapsed. He said he drank three glasses of wine on the day of the shooting. A police officer who attended the scene said she smelled alcohol on his breath.
Local authorities in Texas initially investigated the death and the case was considered by a Collin County grand jury, which chose not to indict Kris Harrison. That decision meant no criminal charges were brought against him in connection with his daughter’s death, a point repeatedly referenced in reports of the UK hearing as the inquest examined the circumstances in which Lucy Harrison died overseas.
UK inquests are fact-finding proceedings intended to establish who the deceased was, and how, when and where they died, rather than to determine criminal liability. The hearing into Lucy Harrison’s death was listed to take place over two days at Cheshire Coroner’s Court, with details published in advance by Warrington Borough Council.
Lucy Harrison’s death has drawn attention in the UK because of the family’s cross-border ties and the circumstances in which she was killed. She was visiting from Britain, and her father had moved to the United States when she was a child, the inquest was told. The shooting occurred in Prosper, a suburb about 35 miles north of Dallas.
In a statement issued through his lawyer and cited in reporting of the case, Kris Harrison said he “fully accepted” the consequences of what happened and described the impact as a burden he would carry permanently. “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, paid tribute to her daughter in comments reported from the proceedings. She described her as a “real force of life,” adding: “She cared. She was passionate about things. She loved to have debates about things that meant a lot to her.”
The inquest has also heard about the final hours of the trip and the couple’s plans to return home, with Littler describing how quickly the situation changed as they prepared to travel. Reports of the hearing said the shot was fired inside the bedroom and that Lucy Harrison collapsed, with her boyfriend among those who rushed in after hearing the bang.
Cheshire Police have previously issued appeals and statements connected to the case and have released photographs of Lucy Harrison in connection with coverage of the inquest. The coroner is expected to consider evidence from UK authorities and material gathered in Texas as part of determining the formal conclusion.
The death has been discussed publicly amid broader debate about firearms in the United States and the risks posed when guns are present in homes, particularly when alcohol has been consumed. However, the inquest is focused on the specific circumstances of Lucy Harrison’s death, including the events leading up to the shooting, the handling of the weapon, and the accounts given by the witnesses who were present.
