Erika, Charlie Kirk’s widow, has made a moving speech in which she thanked emergency responders for attempting to save her husband’s life when he was shot and killed on the campus of a Utah university.
During a livestream, in front of her husband’s vacant chair where he sat for podcast recordings, she read from the Bible and referred to his fondness for President Donald Trump, Vice-President JD Vance, America and the couple’s two children.
Kirk, an activist for the right, was killed on Wednesday by gunshot during an open-air speech in Orem, Utah. His accused murderer, Tyler Robinson, was taken into custody on Thursday evening after surrendering to officers.
In her statement, Mrs Kirk vowed: “My husband’s voice will live on.”
The broadcast from Turning Point USA headquarters in Arizona started with several minutes of silence, with the camera capturing Charlie Kirk’s vacant chair.
When his widow began speaking, she gazed upwards and murmured a silent prayer.
She then thanked first responders who attempted to save him, her husband’s staff, and the White House.
I will never let your legacy die Charlie Kirk’s widow gives tearful address after shoot 2025
“Mr President, my husband adored you. And he knew you adored him too,” she cried, also thanking Vance and his wife Usha for their role in bringing the casket back to Arizona.
“But above all, Charlie adored his children. And he adored me. With all his heart. And he made sure I knew that every day.”
To “evil-doers”, Mrs Kirk stated: “You have no conception the fire you have lit within this wife, the widow’s wails will ring around the globe like a war cry.
“They ought to all understand this: if you believed that my husband’s mission was potent previous to you have no idea, you have no idea what you just have let loose throughout all of this country and this world.”
His tour of US university campuses will resume throughout the autumn, and in future years, she said, but gave no other details. His podcast will also resume.
Mrs Kirk also talked about their three-year-old daughter and one-year-old son, whom she said she had no idea how to tell how their father had died.
“Babyy, daddy loves you so, so much. Don’t you worry. He’s on a work trip with Jesus,” she said to their daughter.
Mrs Kirk, 36, and their children were said to have been in the crowd when her husband was shot.
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Erika Kirk is a Miss Arizona USA titleholder and entrepreneur, who met her husband in 2018. The pair were engaged by 2020 and got married less than a year later.
She is now earning a doctorate in Bible studies, has released a ministry programme and presents the Midweek Rise Up podcast on Biblical leadership. Mrs Kirk also models and acts, and runs a faith-based clothing line.
While the couple’s domestic life and kids are a recurring feature on her social media accounts, they never post pictures of their children’s faces.
Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old divisive figure in American political discourse, had been celebrated by numerous people as the future face of American conservatism with an ability to get young conservatives energized.
By rallying the youth vote, he was a key organiser in Trump’s Maga coalition and was instrumental in seeing him back in the White House for a second term.
Kirk was a vocal gun rights supporter, vehemently opposed to abortion, a critic of transgender rights and spread misinformation about Covid-19.
His opinions were polarising among the college campuses, where he organised massive events, and his inciting speeches would attract vocal critics as well as supporters in great numbers.
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Kirk’s followers claimed that he was reachable and cared about their issues. But his opinions attracted fierce liberal backlash, with his opponents claiming his words hurt individuals – particularly members of the LGBT community.
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Kirk was addressing Utah Valley University as part of Turning Point USA’s The American Comeback Tour, a speaking tour which brought him to various college campuses in the US.
He was shot in his viral Prove Me Wrong debate while answering a question regarding gun violence and transgender individuals in the US.
Trump said that he will be presenting Kirk with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom – the highest civilian honor a president can award – calling his friend and ally a “giant of his generation and a champion of liberty”.
The US president added that Mrs Kirk “is absolutely devastated”.
Turning Point USA, which Charlie Kirk started at age 18, also called Kirk’s co-founder a “martyr” and “pioneer.”
“Charlie was the best husband and the greatest father. More than anything, we ask that you pray for the Kirks following the unspeakable loss they have endured,” the organisation released in a statement to the BBC on Thursday.
JD Vance flew to Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday to pick up Kirk’s casket and fly it to Phoenix, Arizona – the home of Kirk’s family – aboard the vice-presidential plane, Air Force Two.
Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance accompanied Kirk’s family and some of Kirk’s friends to Arizona.
