THIS is the moment a “reckless” dad confesses to shooting his daughter, 23, after his gun “just went off”.
Cop bodycam footage shows Kris Harrison talking to officers at his home in Prosper, Texas, after the horror on January 10 last year.
Lucy Harrison, 23, had been visiting her dad – who was a functioning alcoholic – with her boyfriend over the festive period.
She was due to fly home the day she was tragically shot in the head by her father.
In the clip, Kris tells cops: “That’s my daughter, we were getting ready to go to the airport and we were talking about guns.
“She said ‘have you got one?’ I said ‘yes’ and she asked to see it, and it just went off.
DEATH CRASH
Moment topless dad arrested in bed over ‘murder’ of boy, 4, ‘rammed off road’
MYSTERY DEATH
Nine men & three women arrested in murder probe of man not seen in TWO years
“As I pulled it out it went off.”
The officer asks if he put the gun on the bed to which he says: “I put on the bed straight away.”
Asked where he keeps it, he answers: “In the bedside cabinet… in a locked box.
“We took it out to look, and just as I picked it up it went off.”
It comes as a coroner ruled yesterday that Lucy was unlawfully killed, after US cops ruled her death accidental.
The inquest heard how police in Texas had failed to test Kris for alcohol, despite smelling it on his breath.
At the time, US law enforcement confirmed Lucy died after being shot in the chest by “another person”.
Officials revealed a suspect had been identified and that the case was being probed as “criminally negligent homicide”.
But Collin County District Attorney’s Office later said no criminal charges would be brought.
The Grand Jury found the evidence did not meet the threshold for criminal proceedings.
But Senior Coroner Jacqueline Devonish found the 23-year-old died due to unlawful killing on the grounds of gross negligence manslaughter.
She added: “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.
“I find these actions to be reckless.”
Speaking outside the coroner’s court in Warrington, Lucy’s mum Jane Coates said: “Today’s outcome has finally given Luce her voice back, after what has been an unrelenting year of deep shock, grief and fight.”
She said her daughter was “failed” by Texan gun laws and decisions made by the police department in Prosper.
Jane added: “Although we are satisfied with the coroner’s conclusion, there is much to be learnt from Lucy’s needless and entirely avoidable death.”
The shooting was witnessed by Sam Littler, Lucy’s boyfriend, and he gave evidence at Cheshire Coroner Court.
He said his girlfriend often became upset with her dad when he spoke about owning a gun.
A “big” row was sparked between the victim and her dad when Trump was to be inaugurated as president, the inquest heard.
Sam said just 30 minutes before the couple were due to leave for the airport, Kris grabbed Lucy by the hand and took her to his ground floor bedroom – where he kept a Glock semi-automatic handgun in his bedside cabinet.
He told the inquest he heard a loud bang and Kris screamed 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,” said Sam.
Kris did not attend the hearing but said in a statement he and Lucy had been watching a news segment on gun crime when he asked her if she wanted to see his Glock.
He added: “As I lifted the gun to show her I suddenly heard a loud bang. I did not understand what had happened. Lucy immediately fell.”
The coroner found the dad did not immediately tell Sam, who called 911, that he had shot Lucy.
She said: “He knew full well he had shot his own daughter, pointing a gun at chest height and pulling the trigger.
“He did not ensure that this information was passed to 911. With a bullet through her heart her prognosis was poor in any event.”
Ms Devonish also ruled Kris was a “secret drinker” and she was “left in no doubt whatsoever” that he had been drinking continuously on the day of his daughter’s death.
She said he was a “teaser” and, on the balance of probabilities, that was what he was doing when he removed the gun from its box.
The coroner accepted he did not know the gun was loaded but did not accept Lucy would have asked to see the gun, given she disliked the weapons and considered them a danger to the family.
She added: “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.”
Concluding the inquest, the coroner said: “She was young, vibrant and beautiful with her whole life ahead of her and this is a most tragic death.”
In a statement issued by his solicitors, Kris said he fully accepted the consequences of his actions.
“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,” he said.
“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.
“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.”
Read the full article here