Littler said about half an hour before they were expected to leave for the airport Kris Harrison took his daughter by the hand and led her from the kitchen to his ground floor bedroom, where he kept a Glock semi-automatic handgun in his bedside cabinet.
The father did not attend the two-day hearing but in a statement said he had bought the weapon to give his family a “sense of security” and, as it was for home defence, Texas laws meant he did not need a licence.
He claimed he had a conversation about guns with his daughter and she asked to see the gun, having never discussed his gun ownership with him before.
But the inquest heard evidence from others that Lucy Harrison, a fashion buyer for the Boohoo clothes retailer, knew her father had a weapon in the home and disagreed with it.
In the statement, Kris Harrison, who admitted drinking wine earlier in the day, said: “As I lifted the gun to show her I suddenly heard a loud bang. I did not understand what had happened. Lucy immediately fell.”
He told police who attended the scene: “We got it out to have a look and just as I picked it up it just went off.”
The inquest heard a grand jury in the US had determined there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone in connection with Lucy Harrison’s death.