Erika Kirk Recalls Thinking Husband Charlie Might Survive Assassination as 'His Heart Was Still Beating Intermittently'
Erika Kirk said Charlie’s heartbeat gave her false hope that he might survive.
Oct. 1 2026, Updated 4:17 p.m. ET
Erika Kirk admitted that she briefly believed her husband, Charlie Kirk, might recover because his heart was still intermittently beating after he was shot, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The conservative political commentator was assassinated on September 10, 2025, during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University.
'I Knew Exactly Where I Was'
Charlie Kirk was killed in September 2025.
During a sit-down with Vanity Fair, the mother-of-two recalled watching surveillance footage of the attack that was shown during murder suspect Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing.
"I knew exactly where I was at each moment of the video," she said.
Erika was not at the event when Charlie was shot. She was at an appointment with her mother when she received the news and immediately asked whether her husband was still alive.
'He Has a Pulse'
Charlie Kirk was dead by the time Erika reached the hospital.
Erika was given a small piece of hope when she learned his heart was still beating.
“I remember thinking, ‘Oh dear God, he’s going to make it. He has a pulse,’” she said.
Although a heartbeat can persist briefly after a catastrophic injury, it does not necessarily mean a person is conscious or capable of recovery.
By the time she reached the hospital, Charlie was dead.
She Insisted on Seeing Charlie’s Body
Erika kissed her dead husband goodbye after his death.
She later insisted on seeing his body, despite warnings from authorities.
“With all due respect, I want to see what they did to my husband. I didn’t get a kiss goodbye this morning. I just want to kiss my husband,” Erika recalled telling a police officer.
When she finally saw Charlie, Erika said she noticed that he appeared to have died with a smile on his face, his eyes partially open.
“I’ll never be able to put it into words, but Charlie had a smirk. It wasn’t sad,” she said.
Seeing Charlie in what she described as a serene state, Erika interpreted his expression through her Christian faith, believing he had died at peace.
Erika Kirk Takes Over Turning Point USA
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Erika took over Turning Point USA since Charlie’s assassination.
Charlie’s death also thrust Erika into a public leadership role at Turning Point USA, the nonprofit he founded in 2012.
Before his death, Erika described herself as being “always very quiet behind the scenes” at the organization. She has since taken over its leadership while raising the couple’s two children and publicly honoring Charlie’s legacy.
Her focus is not on revisiting every political debate surrounding her late husband.
“My brain bandwidth right now is honoring my husband, loving on my babies, and building Turning Point to be everything it could be,” she said. “I really don’t have the bandwidth to go down the rabbit holes of all of it.”
