Christian author Frank Turek, who was standing beside Charlie Kirk when he was assassinated and was in the SUV with him on the way to the hospital, shared some heartbreaking details on his podcast Wednesday. Turek will be speaking at Sunday's memorial service, and said that Charlie's wife, Erika, asked him to relate the story then as well.
Christian author Frank Turek, who was with Charlie Kirk when he was assassinated, says Charlie was with Jesus the moment he was hit.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 17, 2025
"Now, here's what Erika wants me to relate..."
"He was looking past me right into eternity. He was with Jesus already. He was killed instantly… pic.twitter.com/jGJjfuENMO
Holding back tears, Turek described the chaotic moments after Charlie was shot, as he and the security team got Charlie to the SUV to speed to the hospital, starting with why he jumped in the vehicle:
This is going to be the hard part, but maybe also the comforting part. Charlie Kirk was literally like a son to me. I have three sons. He was, like, my fourth son. My three sons are a little bit older than Charlie. He was like my fourth son. So when he was hit – if your son got hit, what would you do? I got in the car, because if there was any way I could save him, I had to do something. I couldn't just say, “Well, you just take him. You guys got it."
Inside the SUV, it was chaotic, but the security team and Turek were praying and doing what they could to render aid.
I'm coming over the back seat, and Charlie's laid out in front, just right in front of me. And Charlie's so tall, we can't – we can't close the door. We drove four miles and some -- I don't know, it's four something miles all the way to the hospital with the door open. To this day. I don't know how Brian stayed in the car, because we're just, "Go, go, go, go, go, go, go." We’re – we're trying to stop the bleeding.
And I'm yelling. "Come on, Charlie. Come on. Come on."
. . .
Rick starts praying out loud. I'm praying out loud. We're yelling, "Come on. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.” I go, “We’ve gotta start CPR.” So, I try and start that.
Even then, Turek knew that his "fourth son" had gone to be with his Savior.
Now, Charlie wasn't there. His eyes were fixed. He wasn't looking at me; he was looking past me, right into eternity. He was with Jesus already. He was killed instantly and felt absolutely no pain.
We were giving him CPR, but nothing was happening. It wasn't like if we had better first aid, or we had better medical facilities, or we were faster to the hospital, we could have saved him. We couldn't. So, if that's any comfort at all, Charlie didn't suffer. He was gone. He was with Jesus. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. That's where he was.
What unimaginable pain and grief.
Turek also touched on why it was that the first report from the hospital was that Kirk was in critical condition:
Now, it is true when we got to the hospital and they started working on them right away, they did get a pulse back. And so, Rick and I were just – everyone's praying. We're just praying for a miracle.
We had a – we had a small sliver of hope, and the doctor later said that we got a pulse because Charlie was a very healthy man. But the shot was catastrophic, so 20 or 30 minutes later the surgeon came out and said he was dead.
Sadly, in the first hours after the assassination, some online conspiracy theories were claiming that Turek was giving the shooter "signals" since Turek was standing beside Charlie just before he was shot and was recording the speech from his phone (he was actually livestreaming it to his son and daughter-in-law). Another reminder to us all to pause and reflect before speculating after such a tragedy.
It's comforting to know that Charlie Kirk didn't suffer, and that those on the ground have been reassured that there was nothing they could have done differently that would have altered the outcome. May God continue to comfort those so impacted by that day's events and the loss that will be felt for the rest of their lives.
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