The mum of a young woman who was shot dead by her dad in Texas last year has spoken about the moment she found out her daughter had been killed.
23-year-old British woman Lucy Harrison had been visiting her dad, Kris Harrison, in Prosper, Texas and on 10 January 2025, the day she and her boyfriend, Sam Littler, had been due to travel to the airport and return to the UK, she was shot dead by her father's gun.
Kris Harrison was investigated by police but a grand jury declined to indict him so there has been no prosecution, though an inquest at Cheshire Coroner’s Court said the young woman had been unlawfully killed.
Lucy's mum, Jane Coates, told the Liverpool Echo she'd been woken in the middle of the night by Sam Littler's mum knocking on her door and telling her about her daughter.
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She said: "I thought it was something to do with Lucy and Sam’s house but then she said she had been shot and she’s not made it. That just doesn’t process. I just ran up the stairs and into my bedroom."
Jane told the Echo she'd missed two phone calls from detectives in the US as the phone had gone at 1am UK time, while Sam's mum had knocked on her door about an hour later.
She said she 'asked her if I was dreaming' as the tragic news 'just did not compute', but sadly it was no dream.
Speaking outside Cheshire Coroner's Court today (11 February), Jane said her daughter had been 'failed' by Texas gun laws and decisions made by the police in Prosper.
She said: "Today’s outcome has finally given Luce her voice back, after what has been an unrelenting year of deep shock, grief and fight.
"Although we are satisfied with the coroner’s conclusion, there is much to be learnt from Lucy’s needless and entirely avoidable death."
Kris Harrison, who did not appear before the court, had sent in a statement claiming his daughter had asked to see his gun and when he took it out it went off.
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."
The man had told police: "We got it out to have a look and just as I picked it up it just went off."
However, the inquest also heard that Lucy knew her dad had a gun in his house and disagreed with it, while her boyfriend said on the morning of the day she was shot the father and daughter had a 'big argument' about Donald Trump that ended with 'Lucy running upstairs and being upset'.
She had been shot in the afternoon, around half an hour before they were due to leave for the airport and return to the UK, with her dad saying he had been drinking wine earlier in the day.
Senior coroner Jacqueline Devonish said: "To shoot her through the chest whilst she was standing would have required him to have been pointing the gun at his daughter, without checking for bullets, and pulling the trigger.
"I find these actions to be reckless."
The coroner noted that Kris Harrison had not immediately told Lucy's boyfriend, who had called 911, that he had shot her, and that she was 'left in no doubt whatsoever' that he had been drinking on the day he shot his daughter.
Devonish said: "He knew full well he had shot his own daughter, pointing a gun at chest height and pulling the trigger.
"He did not ensure that this information was passed to 911. With a bullet through her heart her prognosis was poor in any event."
She said he was a 'teaser' and judged that on the balance of probability this was what he was doing when he got the gun out, saying she accepted he didn't know the gun was loaded but didn't accept that she had asked to see it given that she disagreed with firearms.
Joe Harker