Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, stated Sunday that she forgives the person accused of killing her husband.
“On the cross, our savior said, ‘Father, forgive them. For they not know what they do.’ That man. That young man. I forgive him,” Erika Kirk stated at her husband’s memorial, along with her voice softening and tears streaming down her face.
Tyler Robinson, 22, has been charged with first-degree aggravated homicide within the Sept. 10 deadly capturing of Charlie Kirk. Utah County Legal professional Common Jeff Grey stated at a Tuesday press convention that the state will search the demise penalty for Robinson.
Erika Kirk, although, informed The New York Instances that she needs Robinson’s punishment to be decided by the authorized system — not her needs.
“I’ve had so many people ask, ‘Do you feel anger toward this man? Like, do you want to seek the death penalty?’” Kirk stated. “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.”
Kirk reiterated that message throughout her eulogy Sunday. The 36-year-old acquired a prolonged standing ovation when she was referred to as to the stage, and was emotional all through her remarks.
“The answer to hate is not hate,” she stated. “The reply we all know from the Gospel is love, and all the time love.”
Throughout her remarks, Kirk mirrored on her relationship along with her husband and her feelings on the day of his homicide and within the time since. She recalled seeing his lifeless physique within the hospital and feeling shock, horror and “a level of heartache that I didn’t even know existed.”
She added, although, that she “could see the man that I love,” with the “one, single gray hair on the side of his head” and a faint smile on his face.
“That told me something important,” she mirrored. “It revealed to me a great mercy from God in this tragedy. When I saw that, it told me, Charlie didn’t suffer.”
Since her husband’s homicide, Kirk stated, “God’s love continued to be revealed to me.” She recalled a conservation with second woman Usha Vance the day after her husband’s demise, throughout which she admitted, “Honestly, I do not know how I am going to get through this.” The Vances flew to Utah on Air Power Two, and introduced Charlie Kirk’s casket to Phoenix on the vice chairman’s official airplane.
The second woman, although, in contrast it to the hectic final quarter-hour of a flight, and informed Erika Kirk she “will get via these quarter-hour. And the subsequent quarter-hour after that.”
“Usha, I don’t think you realized it then, but those words were exactly what I needed to hear,” she added.
On Thursday, the board of Turning Level USA unanimously elected Kirk because the group’s new CEO. Her husband based the conservative advocacy group in 2012.
In her eulogy, Kirk pledged to select up the place her husband left off.
“The world needs Turning Point USA,” she stated. “It needs a group that will point young people away from the path of misery and sin.”
The Kirks met in 2018 and married in 2021. Collectively, they’ve two youngsters, a daughter and a son.
The memorial befell inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., the house of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. The Kirks lived in close by Scottsdale, Ariz.
“I will miss him. I will miss him so much because our marriage and our family were beautiful. They still are,” Kirk stated.
