Lucy Harrison, a 23-year-old from Warrington in Cheshire, was shot dead by her father at his home in Texas after they argued earlier that day about US President Donald Trump, an inquest has heard.

 

Harrison was shot in the chest on 10 January 2025 at the property in Prosper, near Dallas. Police in the town investigated her death as possible manslaughter, however a grand jury in Collin County declined to indict Kris Harrison and no criminal case was brought.

 

The inquest opened at Cheshire Coroner’s Court where her boyfriend, Sam Littler, gave evidence. He told the court the couple had travelled to the United States for a holiday and described a “big argument” on the morning of January 10 about Trump, who was preparing to be inaugurated for a second term.

 

Littler said that during the dispute she asked him: “How would you feel if I was the girl in that situation and I’d been sexually assaulted?”

He said Kris Harrison responded that he had two other daughters living with him so it would not upset him that much. Lucy then became “quite upset” and went upstairs.

 

About half an hour before they were due to leave for the airport, Littler said Lucy was in the kitchen when her father took her by the hand and led her into his ground-floor bedroom. Around 15 seconds later, he heard a loud bang followed by Harrison shouting for his wife.

 

“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 told the court.

 

In a statement read to the inquest, Kris Harrison said he and his daughter had been watching a news item on gun crime when he told her he owned a firearm and asked if she wanted to see it. He said they went into the bedroom where he kept a Glock 9mm handgun in 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, adding he could not recall whether his finger was on the trigger.

 

Harrison said he had previously attended rehabilitation for alcohol addiction and had “briefly lapsed” on the day of the shooting, drinking about 500ml of white wine because he was emotional about his daughter leaving. 

 

At the outset of the hearing, Ana Samuel, representing Kris Harrison, asked Coroner Jacqueline Devonish to step aside from the case. She argued that a fair-minded observer might conclude there was a “real possibility she was biased” and said the inquest had been conducted “in a manner more akin to a criminal investigation than a fact-finding inquiry.”

 

The application was challenged by Lois Norris, who represents Lucy Harrison’s mother, Jane Coates. Norris described the move as an “ambush by Mr Harrison’s legal team” and told the court that Kris Harrison was “the person in the room who shot Ms Harrison” and the only person present when the shooting occurred.

 

The inquest was adjourned until Wednesday, when the coroner is expected to deliver her conclusions.