Erika Kirk Shares Haunting Details Of Charlie Kirk’s Last Moments In Hospital

Charlie Kirk’s assassination at a Turning Point USA event in Utah has shaken the conservative movement and left his widow, Erika Kirk, grappling with unimaginable grief. The outspoken activist, who was fatally shot on September 10 while addressing students, had long been a lightning rod for both fierce supporters and detractors. Now, Erika Kirk is revealing heartbreaking new details about his final moments, the chilling warnings before Charlie Kirk's death, and the devastating phone call that confirmed her worst fears.

In an emotional interview with The New York Times, Erika recalled how law enforcement urged her not to view Charlie Kirk's body after a bullet pierced his neck, but she refused. “With all due respect, I want to see what they did to my husband,” she said.

At the hospital, she kissed him goodbye one last time. His “semi-open eyes” and “Mona Lisa-like half-smile,” she explained, looked as if “he’d died happy. Like Jesus rescued him. The bullet came, he blinked, and he was in heaven.”

Since that day, Erika admits she hasn’t been able to sleep in their bedroom. She rotates where she lays her head each night and refuses to wash the towels Charlie Kirk used in his final shower, clinging to even the smallest reminders of him. 

The night before his Utah trip, Charlie and Erika had dinner with a faith leader to pray over his upcoming 20-campus tour. Both Erika and their friend expressed concern for his safety. Charlie had received numerous death threats in the past year and was traveling with a security team. Erika urged him to wear a bulletproof vest, while their friend suggested speaking behind bulletproof glass, but he resisted both ideas.

“Not yet,” he told them, confident in his team and the event’s security. Still, Erika remembered moments when Charlie hinted at the risks, almost as if part of him had accepted the possibility of violence.

Originally, Erika had planned to join Charlie Kirk in Utah, but her mother’s medical treatment in Phoenix kept her at home. “Home needs you,” Charlie told her, reassuring her they’d travel together for the next stop at Colorado State University.

At 11:23 a.m., while sitting in her mother’s hospital room, Erika’s phone rang. It was Michael McCoy, Charlie’s longtime assistant. She didn’t need to hear the words before she knew what had happened. “In retrospect, I knew it before he screamed it,” she recalled. “‘He’s been shot!’”

Charlie Kirk first met the former Miss Arizona at a Turning Point event in 2018. Soon after, he flew to New York, where Erika was working as an entrepreneur with her own Christian-themed clothing line, under the guise of interviewing her for a position.

The meeting, held over burgers in Manhattan, quickly turned personal. Despite different career paths, they discovered striking similarities. Both had Midwestern roots, with Charlie growing up in Illinois and Erika in Ohio. Both had been standout basketball players in high school.

Their educational backgrounds diverged. Charlie never attended college but was known as a voracious reader, while Erika earned her bachelor’s degree at Arizona State University and a master’s in legal studies from Liberty University. Still, the connection was undeniable, setting the foundation for a marriage that blended shared values with mutual admiration.

Prosecutors say the suspected shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, had been planning the attack. Investigators recovered a handwritten note left under his computer keyboard that read, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”

Police also discovered a photo of the note and obtained text messages Robinson exchanged with his roommate, described in court filings as a biological male who was in a romantic relationship with Robinson. According to prosecutors, Robinson’s roommate not only provided the messages to police but also described Robinson’s behavior in the hours leading up to the shooting. Robinson allegedly followed through on his threats and later texted his partner, “I’ve had enough of his hatred.”

He now faces an aggravated murder charge, with prosecutors announcing they will seek the death penalty. Robinson has also been charged with obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and felony discharge of a firearm.