Erika Kirk has revealed a warning she gave her husband in one of her last conversations with him earlier this month.
The shooting of Charlie Kirk has dominated world media and threatened to drive a deeper wedge between the left and right of US politics, this is at a time when tensions are already extremely high.
Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10 as part of his American Comeback tour with Turning Point USA. He was in the middle of answering questions about mass shootings in the US when a single shot from a bolt-action rifle was fired from a nearby rooftop, striking Kirk in the neck.
The political influencer slumped back in his chair as chaos erupted among the estimated 3,000-strong crowd of people come to see him. Two days later, 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson was taken into custody, and has since been charged.
This past weekend a memorial was held for Kirk, whose death has shocked and galvanized many supporters on the right. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance both spoke at the memorial, as did Kirk’s wife, Erika Kirk, who was met with rapturous applause after declaring that she had forgiven the man suspected of taking her late husband’s life.
Speaking to the New York Times, Erika claimed to have issued an eerie warning to her husband the night before his fateful final speaking event in Utah.
The couple, it’s said, met for dinner in Phoenix, Arizona with a friend who was a faith leader, with the ultimate goal of praying together over his upcoming 20-campus tour (on which Utah was the first stop).
Erika revealed that both she and said friend had expressed concern for Charlie’s well being as he had received death threats over the past year. At the dinner in question, Erika said that she asked her husband to start wearing a bulletproof vest, while the pastor friend suggested he speak from behind bulletproof glass.
Yet Charlie, Erika explained, was reluctant to do either, replying simply: “Not yet.”
During her interview with the New York Times, she admitted to have started wondering if her husband had ‘surrendered to the prospect’ that his life might be cut short as a result of violence.
Erika had initially intended to be with her husband at the event at Utah Valley University, but ultimately changed her plans to be with her mother, who was undergoing medical treatment in Phoenix, instead.
She recalled Charlie telling her ‘home needs you’.
Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk.
