Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s grieving widow, talked about the time she saw her husband’s body in the hospital after he was killed. She also told him the “secret” she had kept from him her whole life.
“His eyes were semi-open and he had this knowing, Mona Lisa-like half-smile. Like he’d died happy. Like Jesus rescued him. The bullet came, he blinked, and he was in heaven,” Erika Kirk said in an emotional interview with the New York Times.
Kirk also said that the sheriff advised her not to look at her husband’s body because the bullet had hit his neck.
“With all due respect, I want to see what they did to my husband,” the brave mom of two recalled telling the sheriff.
Kirk said she was able to say goodbye to Charlie at the hospital, which she hadn’t been able to do that morning when he left for what would be his last event, a speech at Utah Valley University.
Kirk also gave a very moving speech at the huge funeral service for her husband on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
In it, she told Charlie the “secret” she had been keeping from him.
She described how she looked “directly at my husband’s murdered body” and “saw the wound that ended his life.”
“But there was something else. Even in death, I could see the man that I love. I saw the one, single gray hair on the side of his head, which I never told him about. Now he knows. Sorry, baby, I’m telling you now,” she joked.
Kirk spoke about the smile on Charlie’s face during her powerful address.
“I also saw on his lips the faintest smile. And that told me something important. It revealed to me a great mercy from God in this tragedy. When I saw that, it told me Charlie didn’t suffer. Even the doctor told me — it was something so instant. One moment, Charlie was doing what he loved, arguing and debating … he blinked … and saw his savior in paradise,” she added.
“While Charlie died far too early, he was ready to die,” Kirk added.
Erika powerfully said that she forgave his killer.
“He wanted to save young men. Just like the one who took his life. I forgive him because it was what Christ did. And what Charlie would do,” she said through her tears.
FBI Director Kash Patel has provided an update on the investigation of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, saying the FBI is “pursuing every lead.”
Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested and charged with Kirk’s murder, but Patel said the FBI is looking into the “possibility of accomplices.”
“We are meticulously investigating theories and questions, including the location from where the shot was taken, the possibility of accomplices, the text message confession and related conversations, Discord chats, the angle of the shot and bullet impact, how the weapon was transported, hand gestures observed as potential ‘signals’ near Charlie at the time of his assassination, and visitors to the alleged shooter’s residence in the hours and days leading up to September 10, 2025,” Patel said in a post on X.
Patel added, “The entire FBI mourns the loss of Charlie Kirk. We will not rest until justice is served, and our investigation into this assassination will continue until every question is answered.”
Patel addressed the Discord message during his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying that the FBI is investigating “anyone and everyone involved in that Discord chat” with Robinson.
Patel said there are “a lot more” than 20 people linked to Robinson on Discord, “and we’re running them all down. … Every single one.”
“There are a number of individuals that are currently being investigated and interrogated, and a number yet to be investigated and interrogated, specific to that chat room. So we are very much in our ongoing posture of investigation,” Patel told senators, adding that other people could be involved.
Robinson was charged with several crimes last Tuesday, including aggravated murder. Last week, prosecutors said they would seek the death sentence.
Robinson did not publicly plead guilty on Tuesday. Before his next court date on September 29, the judge told him that the court would give him a lawyer.
Turning Point USA announced Thursday that Erika Kirk, widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, has been unanimously elected as the organization’s new CEO and chair of its board of directors.
Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on Sept. 10 while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. His death stunned supporters and allies across the conservative movement and left the future of the group he founded in question.