VIDEO: Erika Kirk describes husband’s death, forgiveness for suspect

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Erika Kirk pauses as she speaks at a memorial for her husband. Associated Press / Photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson

VIDEO: Erika Kirk describes husband’s death, forgiveness for suspect

Erika Kirk appeared at a mass memorial for her late husband, conservative Christian speaker Charlie Kirk, at a full sports stadium Sunday. Clad in a white suit and dark shirt, she tearfully spoke how her husband left this world on Sept. 10 without regrets or suffering—a great mercy from God in the middle of tragedy, she said.

“One minute Charlie was doing what he loved—arguing and debating on campus and fighting for the gospel and truth in front of a big crowd—and he blinked, and he saw his Savior in paradise,” she said. Her husband was trying to reach young men like the one accused of shooting him, she said. She forgives him, she added.

The 63,400-seat State Farm Stadium was filled with people dressed in patriotic colors for a service that lasted more than five hours with speakers including President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and several of their Cabinet members.

What’s next for Kirk’s Turning Point USA? Erika Kirk will succeed her late husband as CEO of Turning Point USA, the organization’s board said Thursday. The decision was in line with Charlie Kirk’s wishes, it said. The organization said last week that it received more than 54,000 requests from high school and college students for new Turning Point chapters or to be involved with existing ones in the days since Kirk’s assassination.

Dig deeper: Read Elizabeth Russell’s report on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to conspiracy theories about Kirk’s death.