‘I wear his pendant’: Erika Kirk remembers slain husband Charlie

Erika Kirk

Erika Kirk, widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, revealed she wears the blood-stained pendant of St. Michael that her husband was wearing when he was shot. “It was removed from Charlie’s body by medics as they attempted to stop the bleeding,” Erika told The New York Times.Kirk, a prominent ally of US President Donald Trump and founder of Turning Point USA, was shot dead during an event for his non-profit at Utah Valley University on September 10. The FBI has charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson with his murder.Erika, 36, who now serves as the CEO and chair of Turning Point USA, said she and others in Charlie’s circle had hear him suggest he could meet a “violent death.” She recalled that his college appearances often drew divisive crowds, and that he had received numerous death threats over the past year, prompting him to travel with a security team for months.She begged him to start wearing a bulletproof vest, but he refused. A friend suggested he speak from behind bulletproof glass.“Not yet,” Erika recalled Charlie replying, adding that he was confident in his security team and assured her there would be additional protection at the Utah Valley University event.Erika also recounted defying the sheriff’s advice against seeing her husband’s body. “With all due respect, I want to see what they did to my husband,” she said, describing how she kissed him goodbye at the hospital. Erika shared personal memories of meeting Charlie at a Turning Point event in 2018 and described his close connection with Trump. “Charlie was like a son to him. And when the president said, ‘Just let us know how we can support you,’ I told him, ‘My husband just loved conversing with you and using you as a sounding board for all sorts of things. Could we continue that?’ And he said, ‘Of course,’” she stated. On the question of revenge, Erika said she is leaving justice to the government rather than seeking the death penalty. “I do not want that man’s blood on my ledger. Because when I get to heaven, and Jesus is like: ‘Uh, eye for an eye? Is that how we do it?’ And that keeps me from being in heaven, from being with Charlie,” she explained.