Frank Turek is known to many for Cross Examined, his Christian apologetics ministry that challenges college-aged skeptics. He is now known to many more for standing about 10 feet away from Kirk on Sept. 10 during what was supposed to be the first stop on the Turning Point USA “American Comeback” tour.
Authorities charged Tyler Robinson, 22, for Kirk’s murder after a manhunt that spanned a day and a half. Video footage showed a shooter fleeing on a university rooftop, and CCTV video released by authorities showed the suspect walking through a neighborhood.
Robinson was recognized in the video by his own father, who persuaded his son to turn himself in. Authorities say the suspect’s transgender boyfriend showed investigators Discord messages and text messages that also incriminate Robinson.
The rifle that was left behind in a towel belonged to Robinson’s grandfather, and Robinson’s DNA was allegedly found on the towel.
Describing what happened in the days after the fatal shooting, Turek told American Family Radio he was questioned by FBI agents over whether he had signaled the shooter. That question was posed after social media blew up with video of a man in a white cap, later identified as Turek. The man touches the brim of his cap and touches his face. Some thought those movements were a signal to the shooter.
Reacting to that claim, Turek said on the “Today’s Issues” program Monday he told investigators that accusation was the “stupidest thing” he’d ever heard.
"First, I'm a friend of Charlie,” Turek said. “Second, why would a shooter 200 yards away, looking through a scope, need someone to tell him who Charlie Kirk was? He was the one under the tent with the microphone."
Turek, who never publicized his close friendship with Kirk, was nonetheless a trusted source for him because of Turek’s experience answering hard-to-answer faith questions.
Despite that close friendship, social media went wild with Internet sleuths claiming Turek had coordinated with Kirk’s assassin. According to another theory, amplified by Candace Owens, Mossad agents had sneaked onto the UVA campus that morning in a well-coordinated assassination that somehow included Turek, too.
Other conspiracy theories have left Turek off the hook, however, claiming Kirk was killed by a “brown shirt guy” seen in some videos or by “long-sleeve guy” who was supposedly hiding a gun.
No matter how "stupid" the conspiracy theories may be, Turek said he understands the FBI must chase down those claims and check them out.
"When they get to trial, the defense is going to say, 'Did you check about the guy in the white hat?’” said Turek. "The FBI is going to be able to say, ‘Yeah, we checked into all of it.’"
Turek later shared a grim, first-hand account of Kirk’s fatal shooting, when Kirk’s four-man security team and Turek tossed him into an SUV and rushed him to a hospital emergency room.
“Charlie wasn’t there. His eyes were fixed,” Turek, holding back tears, recalls in a YouTube video published Sept.16. “He wasn’t looking at me. He was looking past me, right into eternity. He was with Jesus already.”
Turek also shared that he and the security team administered CPR anyway, hoping to bring Kirk back, but they were later told by doctors the shot had likely killed the 31-year-old instantly.
