More details about the circumstances of Charlie Kirk’s death have come to light.
Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Kirk’s Turning Point USA and an executive producer of The Charlie Kirk Show, claimed to have recently spoken with a doctor who treated Kirk’s fatal injuries.
“I want to address some of the discussion about the lack of an exit wound with Charlie,” Kolvet wrote via X on Saturday, September 20. “I’m usually not interested in delving into most of this kind of online chatter, and I apologize this is somewhat graphic, but in this case, the fact that there wasn’t an exit wound is probably another miracle, and I want people to know.”
The conservative political activist was shot and killed earlier in September while giving a speech in Utah. He was 31.
“I just spoke with the surgeon who worked on Charlie in the hospital. He said the bullet ‘absolutely should have gone through,’” Kolvet said on Saturday, noting the physician explained it’s “very normal” for a gunshot wound. “[He told me,] ‘I’ve seen wounds from this caliber many times and they always just go through everything. This would have taken a moose or two down, an elk, etc.’ But it didn’t go through. Charlie’s body stopped it.”
When Kolvet told the doctor that Kirk did not have an exit wound, he proclaimed, “It was an absolute miracle that someone else didn’t get killed.”
“‘His bone was so healthy and the density was so, so impressive that he’s like the man of steel. It should have just gone through and through. It likely would have killed those standing behind him too,’” Kolvet recalled of the doctor’s remarks. “In the end, the coroner did find the bullet just beneath the skin. Even in death, Charlie managed to save the lives of those around him.”
Kolvet further noted that the situation was both “remarkable” and “miraculous.”
Charlie will be laid to rest in a Sunday, September 21, memorial and is survived by his wife, Erika Kirk (née Frantzve), and the couple’s two children.
Erika, 36, later spoke to The New York Times in a wide-ranging interview published on Sunday, revealing that she saw Charlie’s body after his death against medical advice.
“His eyes were semi-open. And he had this knowing, Mona Lisa-like half-smile,” she recalled to The Times. “Like he’d died happy. Like Jesus rescued him. The bullet came, he blinked and he was in heaven.”
Erika has since been named the new CEO of Turning Point USA.
“In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon wrote that mankind is to be tested by God. Today we are facing such a test, yet we also know that God has prepared us with everything we need to overcome this ordeal,” a Thursday, September 18, statement announcing Erika’s promotion read. “It was the honor of our lives to serve as board members at Charlie’s side. Charlie prepared us all for a moment like this one.”
The statement concluded, “He worked tirelessly to ensure Turning Point USA was built to survive even the greatest test. And now, it is our great pride to announce Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board for Turning Point USA.”
