A judge on Wednesday ordered Charlie Kirk’s wife, Erika, and two children placed under protective custody, ruling that accused gunman Tyler Robinson poses an immediate threat.
The order bars any contact between Robinson and Kirk’s widow. Such restrictions are standard in severe violence cases but take on added weight following Kirk’s assassination.
A copy of the protective order states that Robinson is prevented from “engaging in harassment, threats, stalking, or ‘any other conduct that would place the protected person or designated family or household members in reasonable fear of bodily injury,’” the Western Journal reported. Robinson, 22, is currently being held without bail at the Utah County Jail.
Although he will not be granted release on recognizance soon, Robinson may still have access to a phone while in jail. The order prevents him from contacting Erika Kirk “directly or indirectly, including through phone, email, text, social media, or mail.”
Erika, 36, has begun stepping into the public eye, urging her husband’s supporters to continue his legacy of civil debate. On Friday, she delivered her first public remarks since his Sept. 10 killing.
“If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea,” she said about those who wished harm on her late husband.
“You have no idea what you have just unleashed across this entire country and this world. You have no idea. You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry,” she declared.
“To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die. It won’t. I refuse to let that happen. It will not die,” she said. Erika also confirmed that his American Comeback tour would proceed as planned.
“Our campus tour this fall will continue,” she said. “There will be even more tours in the years to come.”