Lucy Harrison’s mum welcomed the unlawful killing verdict but says her daughter has been ‘so let down’ by the country where she died

A UK inquest has officially ruled that 23-year-old Lucy Harrison was unlawfully killed, a finding that stands in direct contrast to a US grand jury’s earlier decision that there was insufficient evidence to charge her father. As detailed by LADbible, Harrison’s mother, Jane Coates, has expressed deep frustration over the handling of the case, saying she feels her daughter has been “so let down” by the country where the incident occurred.

Lucy Harrison was visiting her father, Kris Harrison, and his family in Texas when she was fatally shot in the chest on January 10, 2025. Kris claimed he had asked if his daughter wanted to see his firearm and that it discharged while he was holding it, adding that he could not remember if his finger was on the trigger.

He also stated that he had “briefly lapsed” back into alcohol consumption on the day of the shooting because he was feeling emotional about his daughter’s impending departure. According to Lucy’s boyfriend, Sam Littler, who had traveled to the US with her, the father and daughter had been involved in a “big argument” about Donald Trump shortly before the fatal encounter.

The coroner’s findings painted a starkly different picture from Kris Harrison’s account

The inquest, held at Cheshire Coroner’s Court in February, offered a sharply different account of events. Senior coroner Jacqueline Devonish described Kris Harrison’s actions as “reckless,” stating: “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.”

The coroner further suggested that Kris was a “teaser” and that this behavior likely prompted him to produce the firearm. While she accepted that he did not realize the gun was loaded, she rejected the claim that Lucy would have asked to see it, given her known dislike of firearms.

“His actions have killed his own daughter and in the cold light of day it is hoped that he now recognises 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 coroner stated. A Houston man facing capital murder charges for shooting an 11-year-old also made headlines in Texas this week.

For Jane Coates, the verdict provided a measure of validation. “I just feel she’s been so let down. I feel anger. My anger isn’t shouting and raging, I have a steely determination to call this out and to make sure the truth is heard,” she said. She expressed gratitude toward the UK coroner for reviewing the evidence, which included autopsy results indicating a “downward trajectory” for the shot that killed her daughter.

Coates also pointed to physical evidence she believes US authorities failed to act on. She highlighted a diagram in the inquest bundle detailing the positioning of the gun, the shell casing, and blood stains on the floor, which she argued showed Lucy was not standing next to her father at the time of the shooting and contradicted his account. “I feel anger that police actually took the time to draw this diagram, to see the measurements, to see where Lucy fell in relation to where the shell casing was,” she said. “For me, it was like they had not chosen to follow the physical evidence.”

Texas, where the shooting occurred, operates under some of the most permissive gun laws in the United States. Since September 1, 2021, residents and non-residents aged 21 and over have been permitted to carry handguns openly or concealed in most locations without a license, provided they have no prior felony convictions. The state does not mandate background checks for private firearm sales and also lacks red flag laws, which would allow for the temporary removal of firearms from individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others. Gun safety advocates have long argued that these policies contribute to public safety concerns. A Houston family’s murder-suicide involving a restaurateur and her children also drew attention in Texas this week.

The LADbible Group has reached out to the Prosper Police Department for comment. The disparity between the US grand jury’s decision and the UK inquest’s findings remains the central point of contention for those seeking answers in Lucy Harrison’s death.