Mentor recounts Charlie Kirk's final moments in eyewitness podcast

A new eyewitness account has emerged from Frank Turek, a Christian apologist and longtime mentor to Charlie Kirk, describing the Turning Point USA founder's final moments after a shooting at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025. In a podcast episode, Turek details being feet away when the gunfire erupted, the frantic drive to the hospital, and the moment doctors pronounced Kirk dead. The episode, titled The Greatness of Charlie Kirk: An Eyewitness Account of His Life and Martyrdom, presents a firsthand timeline of events in the hours that followed the attack.

Before the rally at the outdoor venue, the Turning Point USA team stopped to speak with a local entrepreneur group and then proceeded to the campus for the event in Orem, Utah. Kirk spent the moments leading up to the shooting taking photos with supporters and tossing hats into a large, energetic crowd. Turek said he had voiced concerns about the security risk posed by nearby buildings, but Kirk appeared confident in his private security detail and the local police presence.

During the ride to the hospital, Turek was on a FaceTime call with family, standing about 30 feet to Kirk's right. When a single gunshot rang out during a question about transgender violence, he watched as Kirk fell backward. He recalled his immediate reaction on the call as a reflex denial while the security team sprang into action. The group jumped into the SUV and sped four miles to the hospital, performing CPR and offering prayers as they drove with the vehicle doors open because Kirk was so tall that they could not close the door.

Turek said Kirk was gone once they reached the hospital. He described Kirk’s eyes as fixed, seemingly looking past him toward eternity, and said the death was instantaneous with Kirk not appearing to suffer. Doctors briefly restored his pulse at the hospital, but a surgeon pronounced him dead within about 30 minutes. The team’s arrival at the hospital set in motion automatic steps to notify Kirk’s wife, Erika, and to coordinate travel for her to be with him. The Turning Point USA group also alerted Vice President JD Vance as the family needed to be together during the crisis.

Erika Kirk arrived at the hospital amid an outpouring of support. Turek related that she vowed to continue Charlie’s legacy, telling him that he had loved those working with him and that his mission would continue. The cross necklace Kirk wore, which initially went missing during the rush, was later recovered and found draped over Turek’s own bag in the SUV. Erika would later hold up the necklace in a photo as she escorted Kirk’s body to a chapel in Arizona.

Throughout the episode, Turek portrayed Kirk as fearless and relentlessly Christ-centered, noting his humility, discipline, and devotion to family. He pushed back against critics who he said twisted some of Kirk’s remarks and conveyed the sense that Kirk viewed his work as a calling. In one of the final messages Kirk sent the day before the shooting, he shared 1 Corinthians 16:9, describing a wide door for effective work opening up despite adversaries.

The podcast episode arrives as a reminder of Kirk’s role in Turning Point USA and the larger debate over youth political engagement in the United States. Supporters and critics alike weighed in on Kirk’s legacy in the wake of his death, with Erika signaling a determination to pursue his mission. Investigators continued to examine the circumstances of the shooting, with law enforcement officials describing an active investigation and ongoing review as authorities pursued leads related to a suspect.

This eyewitness account by Turek offers a detailed, contemporaneous look at the events on Sept. 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University, and it adds to the public record surrounding a political figure whose work has been central to conservative youth outreach and the broader political discourse in the United States.