Erika Kirk Shares Thoughts On Charlie’s Accused Killer Possibly Getting Death Penalty

In a conversation with Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime, which aired on full on Wednesday and marked Erika’s first interview since her husband’s death, the 36-year-old opened up about her final moments with her husband before he was assassinated, the conspiracy theories surrounding his murder, and her thoughts on the murder case of Charlie’s accused assassin, Tyler Robinson.

On September 10, Kirk — an often controversial political activist and strong supporter of President Donald Trump — had been speaking at a student Q&A at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, when he was shot and killed by a sniper from a nearby building. He was 31.

22-year-old Utah man Tyler Robinson was identified as Kirk’s alleged shooter. He was arrested the following night on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a weapon causing serious bodily injury, and obstruction of justice; they’re all state felony charges, with the aggravated murder count carrying a possible death penalty sentence.

When Watters asked Erika if she believes Robinson should get the death penalty, she replied, “I do not want this man’s blood on my ledger when I stand before the Lord. I want the government to decide. It’s Biblical, too. Justice will ultimately be served.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Erika expressed that she wants the court proceedings against her husband’s suspected shooter to be broadcast.

“There have been cameras all over my friends and family mourning,” she said. “There have been cameras all over me, analyzing my every move. Analyzing my every smile. My every tear.”

“We deserve to have cameras in there,” she added.

The judge has yet to make a ruling, per The Salt Lake City Tribune.

Erika addressed the ongoing conspiracy theories surrounding her husband’s death, shutting them down as she noted that she’s seen the “autopsy report” and “different evidence portions that have been collected.”

“I trust our team,” she said.

As for the theories swirling online, Erika said, “Everyone grieves differently. Everyone is trying to figure out — and I don’t blame them — how does this happen? How does somebody become so radicalized where they can justify this in their own head?”

“We just lost one of the greatest voices of our generation,” she continued. “Why? How? What’s behind [it]? Everyone’s trying to process this, and I respect that. But where my heart is just asking for some grace is for the ones who were there that day. They have to relive that every single day.”

“He didn’t die in a car accident. He didn’t die from cancer. He was assassinated,” Erika added.

Erika opened up about the day before the shooting, recalling her final moments with her husband before his death.

The night before, she and her husband had met with one of their friends for dinner so they could pray with them before the event. Erika recalled how she expressed her safety concerns to her husband.

“It’s no hidden secret that stuff on campus is heating up,” she said, noting that she had previously asked her husband if he would consider wearing a bulletproof vest.

“I used to say, ‘Charlie, have you ever thought about wearing a vest?'” Erika said. “He would nod to that and be like, ‘You know, I’ve looked into it.’ But he would always say, ‘If they’re going to get me, they’re gonna get me.’ He wasn’t afraid. Wouldn’t have mattered anyways if [he] wore a vest.”

At the time, she and Charlie were in Arizona, where they live. Erika said she was going to stay with her mom the following day, Wednesday, as her mother had been dealing with a health issue, and Erika wasn’t going to be able to attend Charlie’s speaking engagement at Utah Valley University.

“[Charlie] was like, home needs you. Home needs you, be home. Come with me on Thursday to the next event we have,” she recalled.

She told Watters that Charlie “was so excited” for Wednesday’s event at UVU the night before. “I mean, he was like, ‘I can’t wait, it’s going to be the best!'”

Erika said Charlie woke up in the middle of the night to grab a snack, and their daughter woke up as well, before the 3-year-old came into bed with their parents. Erika suggested her husband sleep in their daughter’s bed so he could get a “good night’s sleep.”

The next morning, Erika said Charlie came into their room to get his wedding ring and necklace. “He grabbed that, and then he left. I didn’t even get to give him a kiss goodbye,” she recalled.

Erika detailed the day her husband was shot, recalling how she first learned the news.

She said she was at her mom’s treatment center, where they watched a clip of Charlie throwing hats in the crowd at Utah Valley University. Erika said she put her phone down, noting that it was on silent, before she looked at it only a few moments later.

“Mikey [McCoy] called me,” Erika said, referring to Charlie’s Chief of Staff. “I’ll never forget, him just being like, ‘Charlie’s been shot. He’s been shot, get the kids. Get security, get the kids, get the kids, he’s been shot.’ I sprinted out of her treatment center and just collapsed in the middle of the parking lot.”

She described the moment as an “unbelievable nightmare.”

Charlie was fatally shot by a sniper from a nearby building, and transported to Timpanogos Regional Hospital.

“The way the bullet hit him, he died instantaneously,” Erika recalled through tears. “He died on the scene. But I’m so glad he didn’t suffer, I’m so glad he didn’t suffer. No one deserves to suffer, but a handful of people. He literally blinked and probably thought he was raptured and looked around and was like, where’s everybody else? He blinked, and he was with the Lord.”

Erika had been in Arizona and flew to Utah — and immediately wanted to see her husband. She said she went “straight to the hospital,” saying, “It was a scene from just a horror movie” and “everyone was so rattled to the core.”

Erika explained that a veteran police officer advised her not to see her husband due to his injuries and to wait until he was at the mortuary.

“I responded back to him and I said, ‘With all due respect, sir. I want to see what they did to my husband, and I want to give him a kiss because I didn’t get to give him a kiss this morning,'” she recalled.

Erika then went into the room, and saw her husband, saying he looked “so alive.”

“I’m just so glad I saw him because… when you see someone at the mortuary, they never look the same,” she said. “They have awful makeup, and they’re cold. He was still warm, and his eyes were slightly open. It was so powerful, Jesse. He had this smirk on his face.”

She tearfully went on to recall the final moment she looked at her husband before she left the room.

“That smirk, that smirk to me is that look of, ‘You thought you could stop what I’ve built. You thought you could end this vision, this movement, this revival. You thought you could do that by murdering me. You got my body; you didn’t get my soul,'” Erika said.

Erika also shared her thoughts on the graphic video of her husband’s assassination that went viral immediately after he was shot, explaining why she never plans to see it.

“I never saw the video, I never will see it,” she told Watters. “I never want to see it, there are certain things you see in your life that you can never unsee. There are certain things you see in your life that mark your soul forever.”

“I don’t want my husband’s public assassination to be something I ever see. I don’t want my kids to ever see that,” added Erika, who shares a 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son with her late husband, before calling those who “enjoy watching” the video “sick” people.

“What if that was your father or your brother or your sister?” she asked, wiping away her tears.