Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on September 10 while speaking at a packed event at Utah Valley University. The 31-year-old activist was struck in the neck in what officials have described as a deliberate, targeted attack. Despite the desperate efforts of first responders and his security team, Kirk did not survive. The following day, investigators announced they had recovered a rifle believed to have been used in the shooting. They also released surveillance footage of the suspect, later identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson from Utah, who was arrested after a two-day manhunt.
On September 12, just one day after Robinson’s arrest, Charlie’s wife, Erika, broke her silence with a deeply emotional statement. Speaking from the offices of Turning Point USA in Phoenix, Arizona, she stood at a podium with her husband’s empty podcast chair beside her. Her voice, though heavy with grief, carried both sorrow and determination as she addressed her husband’s supporters and the nation.
She began by thanking first responders who had fought to save her husband’s life, as well as Kirk’s staff, the White House, and Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha, who had helped bring Charlie’s coffin home. She also addressed former President Donald Trump, highlighting the close friendship between him and her husband. “Mr. President, my husband loved you,” she said. “And he knew that you loved him too.”
Erika described Charlie as a man who cherished his country, found joy in nature, and loved cheering for the Chicago Cubs. But above everything else, he loved his family. “Most of all, he loved his children,” she said tearfully. “And he loved me. With all his heart. And he made sure I knew that every day.” She shared how heartbreaking it was to explain his death to their three-year-old daughter, telling her: “Baby, daddy loves you so much. Don’t you worry. He’s on a work trip with Jesus.”
Without naming Robinson directly, Erika condemned those behind what she called the assassination of her husband. She said Charlie had been killed because he spread a message of patriotism, faith, and God’s mercy. But instead of silencing that message, she warned, his death had ignited something greater. “If you thought my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea what you’ve just unleashed across this country and the world,” she declared. “The cries of this widow will echo like a battle cry.”
She vowed to continue his work, promising that his projects, from his campus tours to his radio show and podcast, would not end. “Our campus tour this fall will continue,” she announced. “There will be even more tours in the years to come.” Addressing her late husband directly, she promised, “I will never let your legacy die. In a world filled with chaos, doubt, and uncertainty, your voice will remain. It will ring out louder than ever, and your wisdom will endure.”
Charlie Kirk is survived by Erika, whom he married in 2021, along with their two young children: a three-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. Erika, a former Miss Arizona USA, has long been a visible partner in her husband’s public life, though the couple always chose to shield their children’s names and faces from the spotlight.
In a striking coincidence, only hours before her husband was killed, Erika had posted a verse on social media: “Psalm 46:1 – God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” For many of Charlie’s supporters, that message now feels like both a warning and a source of comfort in the wake of this devastating loss.
