Erika Kirk Describes Seeing Charlie's Ravaged Body After Campus Sniper Attack — 'He Died with a Mona Lisa Smile Like Jesus Rescued Him'
Erika Kirk, widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, gave her first interview following Charlie's death.
Sept. 21 2025, Published 5:45 p.m. ET
Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, has spoken publicly for the first time about the devastating moment she saw her husband's body after he was fatally shot earlier this month, RadarOnline.com can report.
"His eyes were semi-open," Erika, 36, said in an interview published Sunday, September 21. "And he had this knowing, Mona Lisa-like half-smile. Like he died happy. Like Jesus rescued him. The bullet came, he blinked, and he was in heaven."
Charlie Kirk's Death
Erika described the moment she saw her husband’s body.
Charlie, 31, was shot and killed on September 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University during the first stop of a nationwide tour. Erika had planned to travel with him but stayed behind in Arizona to support her mother, who was receiving medical treatment in a Phoenix hospital.
She said she was at her mother's bedside when she received a frantic call from her husband's assistant, Michael McCoy, who screamed, "He's been shot!" Erika quickly boarded her husband's chartered plane to Utah but learned en route that he had been pronounced dead at a local hospital.
"I'm looking at the clouds and the mountains," she recalled. "It was such a gorgeous day, and I was thinking: This is exactly what he last saw."
The Assassination
Charlie Kirk, 31, was fatally shot in the neck while debating students at Utah Valley University.
According to authorities, the founder of Turning Point USA was struck in the neck by a bullet while debating students on issues of mass shootings and gun violence. Video footage shared online showed the moment he was shot, reportedly from nearly 200 yards away.
At the hospital, a sheriff initially warned Erika against viewing her husband's body, saying the fatal bullet had "ravaged" his neck. But she insisted. "With all due respect," she remembered telling him, "I want to see what they did to my husband."
The Investigation
At the hospital, a sheriff advised Erika not to view her husband’s body, saying the bullet had “ravaged” his neck.
Two days later, police arrested a 22-year-old suspect who turned himself in. The FBI had previously released images and video identifying him, with help from his parents. Despite speculation from political figures, including the president, investigators said they have found "no evidence connecting the suspect with any left-wing groups."
"Every indication so far is that this was one guy who did one really bad thing because he found Kirk's ideology personally offensive," a source familiar with the case told NBC News.
Charlie's Family
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Erika and Charlie have two young children together.
For Erika, who is raising the couple's two young children — a three-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son — the tragedy was made more painful by the memory that she hadn’t been able to kiss her husband goodbye that morning.
She said her final kiss came that afternoon, when she stood beside his body.
