A man fatally shot his daughter at his Texas home after the two had an argument about Donald Trump, an inquest has heard.
Lucy Harrison, from Cheshire, U.K., had been living with her father Kris Harrison and his family in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Prosper when the incident took place.
An inquest into the 23-year-old's death is being held at Cheshire Coroner's Court. On Tuesday, the victim's boyfriend Sam Littler told the court that he had travelled with her to the US, where her father had moved when she was young, for a holiday.
Littler said Lucy would often become upset with her father when he spoke about his ownership of a gun. The inquest also heard that Kris Harrison had previously been to rehab for alcohol addiction.
On the morning of 10 January, 2025, when the couple was due to return home to the U.K., there was a "big" argument between Lucy and her father about President Donald Trump, who was to be inaugurated as president, Littler said.
"Kris and Lucy ended up having quite a big argument which led to Lucy running upstairs and being upset." He said Lucy had asked her father, "How would you feel if I was the girl in that situation and I'd been sexually assaulted?"
Kris Harrison had replied that he had two other daughters who lived with him so it would not upset him that much, according to Littler.
He told the coroner's court that later that day, about half an hour before they were to leave to go to the airport, Lucy was in the kitchen, when her father took her by her hand into his ground floor bedroom. About 15 seconds later, he heard a gunshot before hearing Kris Harrison screaming for his wife, Heather.
"I remember running into the room and Lucy was lying on the floor near the entrance to the bathroom and Kris was just screaming, just sort of nonsense," Littler said.
Lucy's mother, Jane Coates, described her as a "real force of life." "She cared. She was passionate about things. She loved to have debates about things that meant a lot to her," Coates said.
Kris Harrison did not attend the hearing, but his representative, Ana Samuel, said it was "more akin to a criminal investigation than a fact-finding inquiry."
In a statement issued by his solicitors, he said: "I fully accept the consequences of my actions, and there isn't a day I don't feel the weight of that loss - a weight I will carry for the rest of my life, and I know that nothing I say can ease the heartbreak this tragedy has caused.
"I cannot undo what happened, but I can honour Lucy by being the best father I can be to her sisters and by carrying her memory forward in everything we do," he continued. "I am deeply sorry for the pain others feel from this tragedy. Lucy's spirit - her warmth, her humour, her kindness - will live on in all of us who loved her."
The inquest is expected to conclude on Tuesday.
