A Cheshire woman who was shot dead by her father while visiting him in the US after a row about Donald Trump was unlawfully killed, a coroner has ruled. Lucy Harrison, 23, from Warrington, died after being shot in the chest by Kris Harrison at his home in Prosper, Texas, on 10 January last year.
Sam Littler, Lucy's boyfriend, told an inquest that the pair had argued earlier that day about Trump, who was due to be inaugurated as president. Lucy had asked her father: 'How would you feel if I was the girl in that situation and I'd been sexually assaulted?' Littler said he always felt 'on edge' while visiting, describing the household as 'very opinionated'.
Harrison, an alcoholic who had been drinking, claimed the gun went off accidentally when he lifted it to show his daughter. But the coroner, Jacqueline Devonish, ruled that he 'knew full well he had shot his own daughter, pointing a gun at chest height and pulling the trigger'. She said he had been a 'secret drinker' and had likely been teasing his daughter with the firearm.
Harrison was never charged by Texas police, as they accepted his claim of an accident. The coroner recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on the grounds of gross negligence manslaughter, noting that Harrison had no experience with guns and had never fired one before.
