Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s wife, has broken her silence following her husband’s murder.
On Wednesday, September 10, the late right-wing political commentator was fatally shot at Utah Valley University while on a nationwide college tour organized by his organization, Turning Point USA. Authorities believe Tyler Robinson, the suspect, fired from the roof of a student services building 200 yards away from the event while Kirk was speaking.
Erika, 36, spoke out about the ordeal during a press conference on Friday, Sept. 12. She thanked local, state, and federal law enforcement, as well as Charlie’s “dear friend,” Vice President JD Vance, and his “phenomenal wife,” Usha Vance, “for their love and support.” She also expressed gratitude to President Donald Trump for his support and friendship with her late husband.
“Charlie always said that when he was gone, he wanted to be remembered for his courage and for his faith,” Erika told me.
“Most of all, Charlie loved his children, and he loved me with all of his heart,” she told me. “My husband laid down his life for me, for our nation, for our children.”
“He told me that if he ever ran for office, his top priority would be to revive the American family,” Erika said, before revealing that Charlie’s The American Comeback Tour will continue in the fall.
“I honestly don’t understand what any of this means. “I know God does, but I don’t,” she explained. “All the evildoers responsible for my husband’s assassination have no idea what they have done.”
Erika also discussed how she handled informing the couple’s three-year-old daughter about Charlie’s death. According to the mother of two, her young child recently inquired, “Where’s Daddy?”
“What would you tell a three-year-old?” “She’s three,” Erika told the audience. “I said, ‘Baby, daddy loves you very much. Don’t worry. “He’s on a business trip with Jesus, so he can afford your blueberry budget.”
She concluded her message by saying, “Thank you all again for loving my husband, supporting him, and sending him emails every day during his radio show; he read them all. God bless all of you. “And God bless America.”
Erika and Charlie met in 2018. They got engaged two years later, in December 2020, and married in May 2021.
During their four-year marriage, the couple had a daughter in August 2022 and a son in May 2024. Charlie died just weeks after his and his wife celebrated their daughter’s third birthday.
Matt Lamb, a former Turning Point USA official, told PEOPLE about Charlie after his death: “He loved his wife and his children. “You could tell by the way he spoke about them.”
“Certainly, he has a more important legacy than Turning Point in his wife and his two kids,” Lamb said. “His legacy will live on through that.”
Robinson, 22, is being held on three counts: aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm resulting in serious bodily injury, and obstruction of justice.
In Utah, prosecutors can seek the death penalty if the defendant is charged with aggravated murder and meets certain criteria. The probable cause affidavit filed in the Robinson case charges the alleged gunman with “shooting Charlie Kirk in a circumstance that put many around him at grave risk of death.”
Prosecutors are expected to formally charge Robinson on Tuesday, September 16 — the same day he is scheduled to appear in court for his arraignment and plea.
The alleged gunman may seek a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty. If he is convicted and sentenced to death by a jury, he will be placed on death row before being executed via lethal injection or firing squad if the necessary drugs are not available.
During a press conference on September 12, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox stated that Robinson was identified after one of his relatives contacted a family friend, who claimed the man had “confessed to them or implied” that he had committed the shooting. The family friend then alerted the authorities.
“I want to thank the family members of Tyler Robinson, who did the right thing in this case,” Cox told the crowd.
Robinson also allegedly discussed Kirk’s visit to the university during a dinner with family members, according to Cox.
“They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints he had,” the governor said, adding that the suspect said “Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate.”
