Mum of Brit lady shot lifeless by her personal dad calls on US cops to rethink fees
Lucy Harrison, 23, was shot through the chest by her father Kris Harrison while he was showing off a gun at their home in Texas. An inquest ruled it was an unlawful killing.
Lucy Harrison was due to fly home with boyfriend Sam Littler shortly before when she died (Image: Sam Littler)
A British mum whose daughter was shot dead by her dad is demanding that the legal case is reopened after a UK coroner ruled the killing ‘reckless’.
23-year-old Lucy Harrison was shot through the chest by her father Kris Harrison while he was showing off his gun at their home in Texas.
Following an inquest, an unlawful killing verdict was recorded, something Lucy’s mother Jane Coates believes isn’t enough.
Jane, 49, said she believed the police had failed to fully examine the case, alleging that Harrison’s recklessness, as well as several contradictions in court, were not fully explored.
She said: ‘The person I want in my mind and in my heart is Lucy. She cared about the truth.
‘Those who really know Lucy’s heart can hear her loud and clear and know exactly what she would want us to do … Make change, do better, be better.’
The shooting, which occurred in Texas last year, took place on the day both Lucy and her boyfriend were due to return home to Warrington, Cheshire.
An inquest in her native Cheshire termed the killing as “reckless”.
‘To shoot her through the chest whilst she was standing would have required him to have been pointing the gun without checking for bullets and pulled the trigger. I find this reckless’, stated Cheshire Coroner Jacqueline Devonish.
Speaking with the Sunday Times, Ms Coates admitted that she is hopeful that the coroner’s findings, especially the description of Harrison’s actions as displaying ‘recklessness’, will spark calls for a new investigation over in the US.
Ms Coates emphasised that she thought her daughter would be safe with her father, especially given he lived in a posh neighbourhood popular with British expats.
She went on to describe the moment that she found out something had happened to her daughter, with Lucy’s boyfriend’s mother being the one to deliver the tragic news.
‘There’s been an accident, Lucy’s been shot and she’s not made it’, she was told.
While Ms Coates feels Harrison’s actions were reckless, she maintains that she doesn’t believe there was any intention behind the shooting.
While Texas police did investigate the possibility of the death being as a result of a homicide caused by ‘criminal negligence’, it was eventually deemed accidental.
Lucy’s father was never arrested and a jury decided not to indict him.
