Erika Kirk has broken her silence, revealing the painful final exchange she shared with her husband, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, just before his tragic assassination earlier this month.
In an emotional conversation with The New York Times, Erika described the last morning she saw Charlie. He was preparing to leave for Provo, Utah, where he planned to kick off a new campus tour. “He got up early, and I could hear him eating something in the kitchen,” she said. Because of the rushed morning, she didn’t get the chance to kiss him goodbye. Instead, she sent a short but heartfelt text: “I love you.”
Only hours later, Charlie, just 31 years old, was fatally shot in the neck while speaking at Utah Valley University.
A Flight She’ll Never Forget
The devastating news reached Erika midair. After receiving a call from Charlie’s longtime aide, Michael McCoy, she boarded a flight from Arizona to Utah. While in the air, she learned her husband had died. “I’m looking at the clouds and the mountains,” she recalled. “It was such a beautiful day, and I thought—this is what he must have seen last.”
Facing the Unimaginable
When Erika arrived at the hospital, she was warned by a sheriff not to view Charlie’s body due to the extent of the injuries. But she refused. “With all due respect, I want to see what they did to my husband,” she said firmly.
She remembers his face vividly: his eyes half-open, with a faint, almost serene smile. “It looked like he died happy,” she explained. “Like Jesus rescued him. The bullet came, he blinked, and he was in heaven.”
Choosing Faith Over Anger
Since the tragedy, Erika has leaned on her Christian faith to guide her through unimaginable grief. When asked if she sought the death penalty for the accused gunman, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who surrendered two days later, her answer was unwavering.
“I do not want this man’s blood on my ledger,” she said. “Because when I get to heaven, if Jesus asks, ‘Eye for an eye? Is that how you lived?’—I don’t want that to keep me from Charlie.”
Carrying On His Legacy
Despite her heartbreak, Erika has chosen to embrace her grief without turning to distractions. “I’m allowing myself to feel this deeply, without medication, without alcohol,” she shared. “The Lord is giving me strength and discernment.”
Her last words to Charlie—“I love you”—remain both a farewell and a vow to keep his memory alive.
