Christian apologist and writer Frank Turek was simply ft away when Turning Level USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley College. In a brand new podcast episode, he recounted the Sept. 10 capturing and the frantic rush to the hospital the place docs pronounced the 31-year-old lifeless.
Kirk first reached out to Turek years in the past for mentorship in Christian apologetics, Turek stated within the podcast, “The Greatness of Charlie Kirk: An Eyewitness Account of His Life and Martyrdom.”
Their relationship blossomed, with Turek saying he got here to take into account Kirk a son.
On the morning of the occasion, Turek joined Kirk’s workforce on the automotive experience to Utah Valley College, discussing potential pupil questions and fine-tuning solutions.
After making a fast cease to talk to a neighborhood entrepreneur group, the workforce arrived on the out of doors venue, and Kirk started taking photographs with supporters and tossing hats into the massive, energetic crowd.
Although Turek instructed Kirk he was involved concerning the massive variety of close by buildings and the security threat they may pose, he stated Kirk appeared assured in his personal safety and the native police element.
Wanting to share the joy, Turek FaceTimed relations as he stood about 30 ft to Kirk’s proper. He defined that in a query about transgender violence, he heard a single shot and watched as Kirk fell backward.
“I’m nonetheless on the telephone, and my daughter-in-law instructed me these had been the primary phrases out of my mouth, ‘No, no, no, no, no,’” Turek stated. “In case your son obtained hit, what would you do?… I obtained within the automotive as a result of if there was any approach I might save him, I needed to do one thing.”
Turek and the safety workforce jumped into the SUV that they used to journey to the occasion and sped to a hospital whereas performing CPR and praying.
“Charlie’s so tall, we will’t shut the door,” he stated. “We drove 4 miles… all the way in which to the hospital with the door open.”
Turek stated he stored yelling, “Come on, Charlie! Come on! Come on!”
As they frantically raced to the hospital, Turek tearfully stated he realized Kirk was gone.
“Charlie wasn’t there. His eyes had been mounted,” he stated. “He wasn’t me. He was wanting previous me proper into eternity. He was with Jesus already. He was killed immediately and felt completely no ache.”
Turek stated regardless of their greatest efforts, there was nothing they may do to avoid wasting Kirk.
“If that’s any consolation in any respect, Charlie didn’t endure,” he stated. “He was gone. He was with Jesus. Absent from the physique, current with the Lord. That’s the place he was.”
Docs briefly restored Kirk’s pulse at the hospital, however a surgeon pronounced him lifeless inside half an hour, in line with Turek.
Hospital workers described Kirk’s accidents as “catastrophic,” he stated.
The Turning Level USA workforce instantly contacted Kirk’s spouse, Erika, and despatched a aircraft to get her, Turek stated. In addition they referred to as Vice President JD Vance.
When Erika arrived on the hospital, Turek stated she vowed to proceed his legacy, even taking a second to reassure him amid her personal anguish.
“She stated, ‘He liked you, and he was doing what he needed to do,’” Turek stated. “Then we simply held each other, and she or he expressed that she needed to maintain Charlie’s legacy going. … That lady will not be going to be denied. If this murderer thought that he was going to finish Charlie’s legacy, he simply poured gasoline on it, and Erika goes to guide the cost.”
The group didn’t have entry to the SUV they traveled in or their private objects attributable to an preliminary police investigation. Nevertheless, as soon as the car was cleared, Turek stated Erika requested for her husband’s cross necklace, which went lacking through the rush.
Turek discovered the cross draped over his personal pc bag, which Kirk was mendacity on because the workforce drove him to the hospital.
Erika later held up the necklace in a heartbreaking picture captured as she escorted his physique to a chapel in Arizona.
All through the podcast episode, Turek described Kirk as a fearless, relentlessly Christ-centered chief.
He highlighted Kirk’s humility, self-discipline and devotion to household, pushing again on critics who he stated “twisted” a few of Kirk’s extra controversial remarks.
Turek added, in considered one of his remaining texts the day earlier than he was killed, Kirk despatched him the Bible verse 1 Corinthians 16:9: “A large door for efficient work has opened as much as me, and there are various adversaries.”
