Widow Erika Kirk shared details about her emotional exchange with a veteran police officer after her husband Charlie Kirk’s assassination, defying advice to avoid seeing his body. The officer, who had decades of experience, advised her not to look at Charlie’s body, expressing his professional opinion that she should wait until he was in the mortuary. Kirk, however, refused to heed the warning, insisting she needed to see what had been done to her husband and give him a final kiss. She responded by saying, ‘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.’ Kirk also explained that she had the same conversation with the doctor, who assured her that the request would be fulfilled.
Kirk sat down with Watters to recount the events on and after that September day, when 22-year-old Tyler Robinson allegedly opened fire and killed her husband with a single shot. She also talked about her ongoing fight to keep news cameras in the alleged killer’s courtroom, her response to late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s comments after the tragedy and the faith that has sustained her in the months since.
Responding to those who celebrated her husband’s death, Kirk didn’t hold back. ‘There’s so much beauty in life. I don’t know why you would waste your time saying somebody deserves to be publicly executed in front of everyone. Why would you say that?’ she asked. ‘Again, that could have been your parent, your spouse, your loved one. You think it’s funny until it’s someone you love,’ she added. ‘I would just ask them to really reassess their priorities in life if they get a high off of watching someone be murdered.’
When asked whether she believed her husband would have forgiven his killer, Kirk was certain of his answer. ‘He’s in heaven, and he sees everything full picture, and… this does not happen, but [I believe] if the Lord gave him an option to return to earth, and if the Lord said, ‘This is what your death is going to be the catalyst for. Do you want to go back and exchange it?’ He’d say no.’