Erika Kirk (née Frantzve) is not interested in determining the fate of her husband Charlie Kirk’s shooter.
In an interview with the New York Times published on Sunday, September 21, Erika, 36, shared what she wants to happen to the 22-year-old suspected of fatally shooting her husband.
“I’m a strong believer that this was God’s plan,” she said when asked about conservative political activist Charlie’s death earlier this month. “And it’s so clear-cut. It couldn’t be more Charlie.”
Erika added, “I’ve had so many people ask, ‘Do you feel anger toward this man? Like, do you want to seek the death penalty?’ I’ll be honest. I told our lawyer, I want the government to decide this. 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?”
The suspect is being held at the Utah County Jail on seven counts, including aggravated murder and witness tampering, in connection with the Turning Point USA founder’s death. Authorities announced on Tuesday, September 16, that they will be seeking the death penalty if the suspect is convicted.
Erika also opened up about the moment she learned her husband of four years, and the father of her two young children, had been shot during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University on September 10. (She told the Times that the thought of being a single mom “is actually the least traumatizing thing for me,” since she was raised by her mother after her parents divorced.)
She was actually sitting in her mom’s hospital room in Phoenix, Arizona, when Charlie’s longtime assistant, Michael McCoy, informed her that he had been shot. While she was en route from Scottsdale to Provo, Utah on Charlie’s chartered plane, she learned he had died at age 31.
“I’m looking at the clouds and the mountains,” Erika recalled. “It was such a gorgeous day, and I was thinking: This is exactly what he last saw.”
Erika said that when she arrived at the hospital, authorities advised her not to look at Charlie’s body. She, however, wanted “to see what they did to my husband.” (Despite claims from many prominent politicians, including President Donald Trump, authorities have found no connection between the suspected shooter and left-wing groups, NBC News reported on Saturday, September 20.)
“His eyes were semi-open,” she explained to the Times. “And he had this knowing, Mona Lisa-like half-smile. Like he’d died happy. Like Jesus rescued him. The bullet came, he blinked, and he was in heaven.”
She kissed him, as she was not able to say goodbye to Charlie before he left for the event that morning, and now wears the pendant of St. Michael that her husband had on when he was shot. According to the Times, a trace of blood remained in the crevice of the cross.
“I’m allowing myself to feel this so deeply,” Erika said of Charlie’s death, “without medication, without alcohol. The Lord is giving me discernment.”
