Dad who shot daughter told police 'gun just went off'

The moment a man who had shot and killed his daughter told police "the gun just went off" was caught on a police body-worn camera.

On Wednesday, a coroner concluded Lucy Harrison had been unlawfully killed while on holiday visiting her father Kris Harrison in Texas on 10 January 2025.

The 23-year-old, from Warrington in Cheshire, had been in a bedroom with her father when his Glock semi-automatic handgun went off and she was shot through the chest.

Cheshire Coroner Jacqueline Devonish said on the balance of probabilities Harrison, who had been drinking, had been playing a prank on his daughter by pointing the gun at her, but did not realise it was loaded.

An inquest into her death saw video taken from a police officer who attended Harrison's address in the town of Prosper, near Dallas.

It captured Kris Harrison, who moved to the US when Lucy was a child, explaining that he and his daughter were getting ready to go to the airport and were "talking about guns".

He told the officer: "She said 'you've got a gun?' I said yes, I got it out and it just went off as she stood there."

Kris Harrison explained the gun was kept in a locked box in a bedside cabinet.

In the background Lucy's boyfriend, Sam Littler who had accompanied her on the holiday, can be seen holding his head in distress.

During the inquest Littler said Lucy Harrison had been concerned about her father's drinking.

Kris Harrison had been previously admitted to rehab for alcohol addiction, and later revealed he had secretly drunk cartons of white wine on the day of her death.

Littler told the court Lucy Harrison confided in him that she could tell her father had been drinking, although he said it was not obvious to others.

In a written statement to the coroner's court, Kris Harrison, who did not attend the inquest, claimed he and Lucy had been watching a news item on television about gun crime when she asked to see his gun.

However Littler told the court his girlfriend did not like guns and was concerned about it being in the house around her siblings.

In her summary of Littler's evidence, the coroner said: "She would never have asked

to see the gun. She would not be laughing and giggling if discussing guns.

"There was nothing on television at the time regarding guns, contrary to what Kris stated in his statement."

Devonish said she had heard evidence that Harrison was a "teaser" and believed he had pointed the gun at Lucy Harrison for a joke.

She said on the balance of probabilities he had also pulled the trigger, but despite the magazine not being inside the gun a bullet had been in the chamber.

Devonish said: "On the evidence I have heard I do not accept that she would have asked to see the gun, as there was no rational basis for her doing so given her fear of and dislike for guns.

"She considered them a danger to the family particularly due to his volatility through drinking and being argumentative."

The shooting was investigated as a possible manslaughter, or "criminally negligent homicide", by police in Texas, but a Grand Jury declined to bring any charges against Harrison.

Speaking after the hearing, Lucy Harrison's mother Jane Coates, who criticised the Prosper Police Department's handling of the investigation, said: "Today's outcome has finally given Lucy her voice back after what has been an unrelenting year of deep shock, grief and fight - fight with quiet focus and steely determination to allow Lucy to speak her truth with the only voice she has now."

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