A British woman shot dead by her alcoholic father after getting into an argument over Donald Trump was unlawfully killed, a coroner has ruled.
Lucy Harrison, 23, was shot in the chest by Kris Harrison at his home in Prosper, Texas, shortly before 3pm on January 10 last year.
Mr Harrison, described by the coroner as a functioning alcoholic, claimed the gun had gone off accidentally.
He has been allowed to walk free ever since, with Lucy’s mother claiming she had fallen foul of Texan gun laws after he bought the Glock 9mm without a license for ‘self defense’.
Lucy’s death was investigated as possible manslaughter but no criminal charges were brought against the father after a Collin County grand jury decided against indicting him.
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Concluding her inquest on Thursday, 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.’
(Picture: Eleanor Barlow/PA Wire)
Family members were in tears in court as the coroner announced that the fashion buyer for Boohoo found Ms Harrison died due to unlawful killing on the grounds of gross negligence manslaughter.
Speaking outside the coroner’s court, Ms Harrison’s mother Jane Coates said: ‘Today’s outcome has finally given Luce her voice back, after what has been an unrelenting year of deep shock, grief and fight.’
She said her daughter was ‘failed’ by Texan gun laws and decisions made by the police department in Prosper.
She added: ‘Although we are satisfied with the coroner’s conclusion, there is much to be learnt from Lucy’s needless and entirely avoidable death.’
Ms Harrison’s boyfriend Sam Littler, who had travelled with her to the States, told an inquest that earlier in the day Ms Harrison had become upset after she and her father argued about Donald Trump, who was due to be inaugurated as president later that month.
He said about half an hour before they were expected to leave for the airport, Mr Harrison took his daughter by the hand and led her from the kitchen to his ground floor bedroom, where he kept a Glock semi-automatic handgun in his bedside cabinet.
Mr Harrison did not attend the two-day hearing at Cheshire Coroner’s Court but in a statement said he had bought the weapon to give his family a ‘sense of security’ and, as it was for home defense, Texas laws meant he did not need a license.
He claimed he had a conversation about guns with his daughter and she asked to see the gun, having never discussed his gun ownership with him before.
But the inquest heard evidence from others that Ms Harrison knew his father had a weapon in the home and disagreed with it.
In the statement, Mr Harrison, who admitted drinking wine earlier in the day, 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.’
He told police who attended the scene: ‘We got it out to have a look and just as I picked it up it just went off.’
Ms Devonish found Mr Harrison did not immediately tell Mr Littler, who called 911, that he had shot Ms Harrison.
She 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 Mr Harrison was a ‘secret drinker’ and she was ‘left in no doubt whatsoever’ that he had been drinking continuously on the day of his daughter’s death.
She said he was a ‘teaser’ and, on the balance of probabilities, that was what he was doing when he removed the gun from its box.
The coroner accepted that he did not know the gun was loaded but did not accept Ms Harrison would have asked to see the gun, given she disliked the weapons and considered them a danger to the family.
She added: ‘His actions have killed his own daughter and in the cold light of day it is hoped that he now recognizes the risk he posed to her life in circumstances in which he had no experience of guns, had undertaken no training and had never fired a gun.’
The inquest heard police in Texas failed to test Mr Harrison for alcohol despite suspecting he had been drinking after smelling alcohol on his breath.
Concluding Ms Harrison’s inquest, the coroner said: ‘She was young, vibrant and beautiful with her whole life ahead of her and this is a most tragic death.’