U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 9, 2026. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
(Prosper, Texas) – A 23-year-old British woman was shot dead by her father at his Texas home after the pair argued about, U.S. President Donald Trump, a coroner’s court in the U.K. has heard.
Lucy Harrison, from Warrington, Cheshire, was killed on January 10, 2025, while visiting her father, Kris Harrison, in Prosper, near Dallas. An inquest into her death opened this week at Cheshire Coroner’s Court.
Her boyfriend, Sam Littler, told the court the two had a “big argument” earlier that day about Trump, who was preparing to be inaugurated for his second term just 10 days later.
The Argument
According to Littler, Lucy became upset during a heated political discussion. He told the court she asked her father: “How would you feel if I was the girl in that situation and I’d been sexually assaulted?”
He said Kris Harrison replied that he had two other daughters living with him and it “would not upset him that much.” Lucy then ran upstairs, visibly distressed.
The inquest also heard that Kris Harrison had struggled with alcohol addiction in the past and had attended rehab. In a statement read to the court, he admitted he had relapsed that day, drinking approximately 500ml of white wine before the shooting.
The Shooting
About 30 minutes before Lucy and Littler were due to leave for the airport, her father reportedly took her by the hand and led her into his ground-floor bedroom.
Littler said he heard a loud bang roughly 15 seconds later.
“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,” he told the court.
In his statement, Kris Harrison said he had been watching a news report about gun crime with his daughter when he told her he owned a firearm and asked if she wanted to see it.
He retrieved a Glock 9mm handgun from a bedside cabinet.
“As I lifted the gun to show her I suddenly heard a loud bang. I did not understand what had happened. Lucy immediately fell,” he said. He added he could not recall whether his finger was on the trigger.
Police who responded to the scene reported smelling alcohol on his breath. CCTV footage showed he had purchased two 500ml cartons of Chardonnay from a 7-Eleven earlier that day.
No Criminal Charges
Local authorities in Collin County investigated the case as possible manslaughter. However, a grand jury declined to indict Kris Harrison, and no criminal charges were brought.
At the start of the inquest, Harrison’s legal team requested that the coroner recuse herself, claiming the proceedings resembled a criminal investigation. The application was denied.
In a statement issued through 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’s mother, Jane Coates, described her daughter 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.
