U.K. inquest finds British woman was killed ‘unlawfully’ in Texas

A British coroner ruled that a 23-year-old woman shot to death by her father in Texas was killed “unlawfully.” Lucy Harrison, from Cheshire in northern England, was shot in the chest in January 2025 by her father, Kris Harrison, at his home in Prosper, a northern suburb of Dallas.

A Texas grand jury had declined to indict him, and the coroner concluded the gun accidentally discharged while he was showing it to his daughter. Jacqueline Devonish decided that Mr. Harrison’s actions amounted to gross negligence manslaughter. The coroner said the chest wound could only have occurred with the gun pointed directly at Lucy, who was standing across the room, and that to shoot her through the chest would have required him to point the gun, fail to check for bullets and pull the trigger.

“Whilst I accept that there was a lack of intent… his actions were truly exceptionally bad and reprehensible so as to amount to gross negligence,” she wrote. Mr. Harrison did not attend the inquest and could not be reached.

United Kingdom, Prosper, Texas

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