Longtime friend of Charlie Kirk shares emotional details during frantic SUV ride to the hospital

OREM, UTAH: Christian author Frank Turek, who was in the SUV with Charlie Kirk, gave a raw account Wednesday of the frantic minutes after the Turning Point USA founder was shot.

Fighting back tears, Turek spoke about the bond he shared with Kirk. “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,” he said.

Frank Turek recalls desperate SUV ride with Charlie Kirk

According to Turek, it was pure chaos.

“I’m on one side of the car, the right side, and they’re getting Charlie in. So I run over to the other side, but the guy was dragging him in. They start blocking that entrance. So at that point, I run around to the back,” Turek said.

“I pop the back gate open, and I jump in the back. The car lurches forward. Apparently somebody jumped in the car. The car lurches forward. So I almost fall out of the car, the SUV. Then I grab the thing and close it.” 

He described five people cramped inside. “Justin’s driving. Dan is up front with the GPS. Rick has got him. Rick’s on my left, and Brian is there, and I’m coming over the back seat, and Charlie’s laid out in front, just right in front of me,” he recalled, before noting how Kirk’s height made things worse.

“And Charlie’s so tall, we can’t close the door. We drove four miles, 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 ‘Go, go, go, go, go,’ we’re trying to stop the bleeding. You saw it. And I’m yelling, come on, Charlie, come on.”

Turek recounted the horror around the 46-minute mark of his video titled The Greatness of Charlie Kirk: An Eyewitness Account of His Life and Martyrdom.

Frank Turek describes fleeting hope and Charlie Kirk’s tragic death

As the SUV weaved through intersections and honked through traffic, Turek and others alternated between first aid and prayer. “And I go, we got to start CPR. So I try and start that. 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,” Turek said.

“At the hospital, there was a flicker of hope. They started working on him right away and did get a pulse back. Rick and I were just, everyone’s praying. We had a small sliver of hope,” Turek remembered. “And the doctor later said 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.”

Authorities investigate Tyler Robinson and the Charlie Kirk shooting

Authorities say the shooter climbed onto the roof of UVU’s Losee Center and fatally shot Kirk with a single rifle round before fleeing on foot. The FBI launched a manhunt and circulated surveillance images of the suspect, later identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. 

Investigators found engraved messages on the bullet casings, including “Hey fascist! Catch!” and “If you read this you are gay LMAO,” along with “bella ciao,” a phrase tied to a left-wing anthem.

Court filings revealed more details about Robinson’s motives and communications.

Investigators say he had been in a relationship with a male roommate who was transitioning to female, a detail mentioned by his mother during an interview.

Incriminating texts later surfaced, including one to the roommate that read, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”

Prosecutors have since announced they will seek the death penalty.

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