A 23-year-old British woman who was shot de@d by her father had argued with him about Donald Trump earlier that day, an inquest has heard.
Lucy Harrison, a fashion shopper from Warrington, Cheshire, was staying with her father, Kris Harrison, and his family at their home in Prosper, Texas, in January 2025.
Ms Harrison’s boyfriend, Sam Littler, who made the trip with her, told Cheshire Coroner’s Court she would often become upset with her father when he spoke about his gun ownership.
He said that on the morning of 10 January – when the couple were due to fly home – Ms Harrison and her father argued about Donald Trump and the s£xual assault allegations against him.
“Kris and Lucy ended up having quite a big argument which led to Lucy running upstairs and being upset,” Mr Littler said.
He said Ms Harrison asked her father how he’d feel if she was s£xually assaulted.
Her father replied that he had two other daughters who lived with him so it would not upset him that much, the inquest heard.
Then, Mr Littler said, about half an hour before they were due to leave for the airport, Mr Harrison took his daughter by the hand and led her into his ground-floor bedroom.
He said he heard a loud bang some 15 seconds later, before Mr Harrison started screaming for his wife, Heather.
Mr Littler said: “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.”
The inquest was also told that Mr Harrison had previously been to rehab for alcohol addiction.
He did not attend the hearing, but his representative, Ana Samuel, gave a statement.
The statement from Kris Harrison said he and his daughter had been watching a news item on gun crime when he told her he had a gun and asked her if she wanted to see it.
Lucy Harrison and her father Kris Harrison
They went into the bedroom so he could show her a Glock 9mm semi-automatic handgun which he kept in the bedside cabinet.
Harrison said he had bought the gun a couple of years before because he wanted a “sense of security” for his family.
He denied ever discussing it with his daughter before.
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.”
Harrison said he could not recall whether his finger was on the trigger.
He acknowledged he had issues with alcohol in the past and said he “briefly lapsed” on the day of his daughter’s de@th because he was emotional about her leaving.
The inquest heard police officer Luciana Escalera, whose evidence was read, noticed the smell of alcohol on Harrison’s breath when he was called to the house after the shooting.
CCTV footage showed Kris Harrison had bought two 500ml cartons of Chardonnay from a 7-Eleven store shortly before 13:00 CST (05:00 GMT) that day.
Ana Samuel, representing Kris Harrison, made an application at the start of the hearing for coroner Jacqueline Devonish to recuse herself from the case, saying a fair-minded observer may conclude there was a “real possibility she was biased”.
She said the inquest had been conducted “in a manner more akin to a criminal investigation than a fact-finding inquiry”.
Lois Norris, representing Lucy Harrison’s mother Jane Coates, said the application was an “ambush by Mr Harrison’s legal team”.
Lucy Harrison and her mother Jane Coates
She said Kris Harrison was the “person in the room who shot Ms Harrison” and the only person in the room when it happened.
Devonish refused the application to recuse herself.
In a statement issued by 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.
Coates said her daughter, who worked as a buyer for fashion brand Boohoo, was a “real force of life”.
She said: “She cared. She was passionate about things. She loved to have debates about things that meant a lot to her.”
The inquest was adjourned until Wednesday, Feb. 11, when the coroner is expected to deliver her conclusions.
