Charlie Kirk’s grieving widow, Erika Kirk, has shared a series of tender, gut-wrenching images and videos showing her weeping beside her husband’s open casket in a final, intimate farewell to the slain conservative activist now hailed by his followers as a martyr.
The deeply personal footage posted to her Instagram, shows Erika gently stroking her husband’s hand as she sits beside his body, which lies dressed in a dark suit and red tie inside a cream, silk-lined, polished casket.
‘Oh I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. God bless you,’ she whispers through muffled sobs, her voice cracking as she weeps over his body.
The sound of her weeping fills the room as her trembling fingers linger on his lifeless hand in a final act of devotion captured in full view of her 3.3 million followers.
In another image she can be seen with her back to the camera, her long blonde hair cascading over her shoulders, as she appears to be collapsed in grief as she lies draped across her husband’s casket.
While Charlie Kirk’s face is not visible in the images, his body is clearly present, his unmistakable frame lying in state.
The raw and haunting moments came just hours after Erika delivered a defiant public speech from her late husband’s studio, vowing to continue his mission and ‘never let his legacy die.’
Erika promised to continue the political movement her husband started as she stood next to the empty chair once used by Charlie in his studio while she addressed an online audience just after 8:25pm.
Erike Kirk, the wife of the late Charlie Kirk, appears to be collapsed in grief as she lies draped across her husband’s casket
In a video posted to her Instagram, Erika can be seen stroking her husband’s hand as he lies dressed in a dark suit and red tie inside a cream silk-lined casket
Erika holds her husband’s had for a final time in gut-wrenching photos and video
During an emotional speech in which she had to pause several times to catch her breath and wipe away tears, she called on Kirk’s followers to become members of a church before making a vow to her late husband.
‘Charlie, I promise I will never let your legacy die, baby,’ she said. ‘I promise I’ll make Turning Point USA the biggest thing that this nation has ever seen.’
Her comments came just hours after the man alleged to have shot and killed her husband was identified and arrested.
Wearing an emerald green shirt and white blazer, Erika Kirk thanked President Donald Trump and his family for their support following the shooting during her roughly 16-minute remarks.
‘Mr President, my husband loved you. And he knew that you loved him too. He did. Your friendship was amazing. You supported him so well, as did he for you,’ she said.
She also thanked Vice-President JD Vance and his wife Usha for ‘bringing him home’.
Erika began her 15 minute long address after making a silent prayer.
Overcome with emotion, she thanked employees of Turning Point USA – which her husband co-founded.
While weeping over her husband’s body, Erika can be heard telling him ‘I love you’ while kissing and caressing his lifeless hand
Erika also posted a final family photo of her kissing her two young children while her husband smiles in the background
Erika Kirk, wife of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk made her first public address since her husband’s assassination on Friday evening
Vice President JD Vance, right, Second Lady Usha Vance, center, and Erika Kirk, holding a cross on a chain, deplane Air Force Two, carrying the body of Charlie Kirk, on Thursday
Erike also posted a series of photos of her on the tarmac to welcome her husband’s body back to Arizona standing alongside JD Vance and his wife Usha, both seen left
In another private moment, Erika Kirk can be seen being embraced by Vice President Vance. His wife, Usha, looks on
Erika Kirk, wife of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, made her first public address since her husband’s assassination on Friday evening
‘My heart is with everyone of my husband’s employees who lost a friend and a mentor,’ she says. ‘He loved what he did.’
She thanked law enforcement and the ‘first responders who struggled heroically to save Charles’ life, and the police who acted bravely to ensure there were no other victims on that terrible afternoon’.
Charlie Kirk’s death is being treated as a political assassination.
A photo of Kirk could be seen displayed on her podium, with the caption: ‘May Charlie be received into the merciful arms of Jesus, our loving savior.’
‘Charlie said if he ever ran for office, his top priority would be to revive the American family. That was his priority,’ Erika Kirk said.
‘Charlie loved life. He loved his life. He loved America,’ she added before describing some of her husband’s hobbies, and his favorite sports teams.
Erika Kirk call called her late husband Charlie the’perfect’ father, weeping throughout her comments
Erika began her 15 minute long address after making a silent prayer. Overcome with emotion, she thanked employees of Turning Point USA – which her husband co-founded
Right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk appears at a Utah Valley University speaking event in Orem, Utah shortly before he was assassinated
‘Go ducks,’ she said with a smile, referring to the Oregon University sports team, adding that he would want her to say that because they play this weekend.
‘But most of all, Charlie loved his children. And he loved me. With all his heart. And he made sure I knew that everyday.’
She went on to call him a ‘perfect’ father, weeping throughout her comments.
In one particular heart-wrenching section of her speech, Erika said she doesn’t remember the last time she slept. She shared a story about the couple’s daughter, whom they referred to as GG, when she ran into her arms the night before.
”Where’s daddy?” GG asked.
‘What do you tell a three-year-old?’ she said. ”Baby, daddy loves you so much. Don’t you worry. He’s on a work trip with Jesus he can afford your blueberry budget,” Erika said.
Wearing a cross necklace she focused on her Christian faith quoting a verse from the Bible.
‘Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.’ She praised God and said he is ‘incredibly good’.
‘My husband laid down his life for me, for our nation, for our children,’ Erika said ‘May Charlie be received into the merciful arms of Jesus, our loving Savior.
‘Now and for all eternity, he will stand at his savior’s side wearing the glorious crown of a martyr.’
She pledged Charlie Kirk’s message will continue and that the planned campus tour to US universities would keep going – as will the podcast he hosted.
‘He never gave up. One of his mottos was never surrender. So I want to tell that we will never surrender,’ said Erika in a defiant tone.
‘The campus tour will continue. There will be even more tours in the years ahead to come,’ she went on.
His ideology will continue to spread – ‘in a world filled with chaos doubt and uncertainty, my husbands voice will remain,’ she added.
Erika then addressed the killer – or as she put it ‘the evildoers responsible’ directly.
‘You have no idea what they have done. They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism, faith and of God’s merciful love,’ she said.
Kirk has this message for the ‘evildoers’,’ Erika said. ‘You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife, the cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry. To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die. It won’t, I refuse to let that happen.
‘They should all know this: If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before you have no idea, you have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country and this world, you have no idea.’
Erika reached out to touch the chair where her husband once sat to present his podcast
In one particularly moving section, Erika Kirk told how her three-year-old daughter had been asking where her daddy was. ‘He’s on a business trip with Jesus’, she responded
She pledged to her late husband that that she would never let his legacy die.
‘In a world filled with chaos, doubt and uncertainty, my husband’s voice will remain,’ she promised.
Before concluding she addressed Charlie directly, saying: ‘I can’t wait to see you again one day.’
Erika had last been seen on Thursday when her husband’s casket arrived in his home state of Arizona aboard Air Force Two as Vice President JD Vance honored the conservative activist with a final flight.
Vance’s wife, Usha, stepped off the plane alongside Erika. Both women wore black and sunglasses while the vice president was a few steps behind in a dark suit.
Vance helped carry Kirk’s casket with a group of uniformed service members as it was loaded onto the plane.
On Friday, President Trump said he plans to attend Kirk’s funeral, calling it an ‘obligation.’
Trump also said he would posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Tyler James Robinson, 22, of Washington, Utah, was arrested in connection to Kirk’s killing
Tyler James Robinson, 22, of Washington, Utah, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily harm, and obstruction of justice, all felonies, according to a probable cause statement filed in court and released Friday. A judge ordered that he be held without bail.
Robinson is registered to vote but is not affiliated with a political party, according to Utah state records.
The break in the case came after a family member of Robinson reached out to a family friend with information that Robinson had ‘confessed’ or implied involvement in the shooting, Utah Governor Spencer Cox told reporters on Friday, shortly after Robinson was taken into custody.
Cox said it is believed that Robinson acted alone.
