Lucy Harrison, 23, was fatally shot by her dad Kris at his home in Texas after he had been drinking and their argument about the firebrand US President Donald Trump
The UK government is being urged to put the pressure on a Texas police department to re-open an investigation after a British woman was fatally shot by her father in Texas.
Lucy Harrison, 23, from Warrington, Cheshire, was visiting her dad Kris in Prosper, near Dallas, when she was shot in the chest on January 10, 2025. She and her boyfriend had arrived just days after Christmas, on December 28, 2024, but Lucy was killed less than two weeks later, just before the pair were due to go to the airport and fly home.
Despite the circumstances of her death, police did not bring any criminal charges against Kris. Senior coroner for Cheshire, Jaqueline Devonish, found Kris’ actions amounted to unlawful killing on the grounds of gross negligence manslaughter during an inquest.
It was heard in February the Kris had been drinking alcohol on the same day he fatally shot his daughter. He claimed to have taken her into a room to show her his gun following an argument about Donald Trump.
The inquest into her death heard how Lucy’s dad had taken her by the hand into his bedroom shortly before he was due to drive her and Sam to the airport. Sam told the court that around 15 seconds later he heard a bang before Kris shouted his wife Heather’s name. Sam, Mrs Harrison, her two daughters, and a neighbour who was in the home, ran to the downstairs bedroom where they found Lucy’s body on the floor.
Labour MP Sarah Hall told the Commons she wants the government to urge US authorities to re-open the case. Officers in Texas who originally investigated Lucy’s death probed the death as possible manslaughter, but a grand jury in Collin County decided against indicting her dad.
During the Commons debate about the young fashion buyer, the Warrington South MP said: “She was in her father’s home, somewhere she should have been safe.” She added Lucy’s family, including her mum Jane and boyfriend Sam Littler, were not given proper support from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, including on how to navigate the Texas legal system.
The MP added how the case was “considered by a grand jury in Texas” but that “no criminal charges were brough. The gun had simply gone off.”
“The senior coroner for Cheshire told the court that Lucy’s father’s actions on the day of her death were truly exceptionally bad and reprehensible, so as to amount to her death, and she rejected the account that the gun had simply gone off,” she added, as reports BBC News.
The MP said Lucy’s family wanted the coroner’s finding to be taken into serious consideration and for the case to be re-examined. Ms Hall said: “I implore the government to use every channel it has to press the relevant authorities in Texas to reopen or formally reconsider Lucy’s case,” adding: “And to stand alongside a British family to ensure that the findings of a British court are properly considered.”
