Lucy Harrison had travelled to the US to visit her dad in Texas with her boyfriend, but the 23-year-old, from Warrington, was fatally shot hours before her flight home
A mum revealed the horror moment she discovered her beloved daughter was shot dead on holiday.
Lucy Harrison, 23, had been on holiday with her boyfriend Sam Littler to visit her dad and his family in Texas. The couple were just hours away from getting on a flight back to the UK before Lucy was fatally injured at her dad’s home, on January 10, 2025. Lucy and Sam, from Warrington, visited the small town of Prosper where the young woman suffered a gunshot wound to her chest from “medium range” fired by another person.
Despite this, no one was prosecuted for the 23-year-old’s horror death. Now, mum Jane Coates, 49, has revealed she found out her daughter had died after a knock at her door in the middle of the night.
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Jane said Sam’s mum woke her up by knocking at her door at 2am of January 11, saying: “I think, normally, you’d expect if someone is knocking on your door in the middle of the night you know something bad has happened, but it just didn’t even process with me.”
The mum, speaking to the Liverpool Echo before an inquest into her death is due to be heard next week, added: “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. I remember Helen sitting on the edge of the bed and I asked her if I was dreaming, it just did not compute, and she said no.”
Jane raged that she was not kept in the loop with the US investigation into her daughter’s death. She also claimed that she wasn’t contacted by Cheshire Police until days before the opening of her daughter’s inquest on February 12 last year. Despite Lucy suffering a gunshot wound to her chest from “medium range” fired by another person, a grand jury found that no one would be prosecuted for the death on June 10 last year.
A grand jury in Texas consists of 12 people and determine whether there is probable cause to believe a person committed a felony, assessing all evidence in private. Despite the person accused of committing a crime being charged by police, they are not named if the grand jury decide to conclude criminal proceedings.
Jane said she also expected better communication from the Foreign Office during that time. She told the Echo: “For me, we needed better communication about what on earth was happening over there in terms of their systems and their processes. They’ve got a consulate case worker out there who I had a meeting with and they said we needed better communication but when it’s a developed country they expect the authorities to liaise directly with us. What happens when they don’t?”
Jane claims it wasn’t until Sam and Helen rang the Attorney General more than a month after Lucy’s death that they were able to access information relating to the investigation. It wasn’t until April that Jane and Sam were allocated a victim support worker from the Foreign Office following a referral from Cheshire Police, something the government department eventually apologised for.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office told the ECHO: “We supported the family of a British woman who died in the US and were in contact with the local authorities.”
13 months after the tragic shooting, The mum and boyfriend said they are still grieving Lucy’s death. Sam has returned to his job as an account manager while still receiving counselling.
Jane, who is back to work as a deputy manager of a primary school, said she can’t help the feeling Lucy could walk through the door any minute. She said: “It’s when you hear the floorboards creek in the morning and I think ‘oh, Lucy is out of bed’, but she’s not. It’s just muscle memory.”
An inquest at Cheshire Coroner’s Court will be held held on Tuesday and is expected to last two days. It will explore the facts of Lucy’s death, including possibly identifying who pulled the trigger of the gun that killed her.
