By Sybil Mulcahy

Copyright evoke

Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika stunned the tens of thousands who paid their last respects at her husband’s funeral by publicly offering forgiveness to his killer.

‘He [Charlie] wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life,’ Erika said, sparking roars from the crowd and a standing ovation.

‘That man, that young man, I forgive him.’

‘Even though Charlie died too early, he was ready to die,’ Erika said. ‘Charlie died with incomplete work, but not unfinished business.’

‘There was nothing that was too hard or too painful or nothing that he just felt like he didn’t want to do.’

People were in tears throughout her speech as she remembered the father of her two children, their marriage and his legacy.

President Donald Trump was in attendance, along with other leading luminaries of his Make America Great Again movement, to remember the 31-year-old father-of-two who played a part in bringing the Republicans back to power in the White House.

And there were defiant pledges to continue his work from speakers at the stadium. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said: ‘The day that Charlie died the angels wept, but those tears have been turned into fire in our hearts, and that fire burns with a righteous fury.’ In an impassioned address, he added: ‘You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk? You have made him immortal. ‘They cannot imagine what they have awakened. They cannot conceive of the army they have arisen in all.’ Republican congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna compared him to the most historic of Americans, John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King, not for his politics but for ‘altering the trajectory of our modern fight against cultural decay and ideological tyranny’.

The funeral was held in Chicago born Mr Kirk’s adopted home state of Arizona, where his Turning Point organisation is based. chief of staff. He said: ‘Eleven days ago, my friend was murdered for using his voice to engage in peaceful dialogue. ‘Charlie’s assassin thought he could steal and silence his voice by putting a bullet in his neck. Charlie was not silenced, his movement is only beginning. ‘In Charlie’s words, “Get married, have more children than you can afford, build a legacy, pass down your values, pursue the eternal, seek true joy”.’

The audience broke out in in a massive round of applause after Erika said Charlie joined his savior, Jesus Christ, in paradise.

Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah resident, has been formally charged with aggravated murder and six other charges, including obstruction of justice and witness tampering. He was reportedly handed over to police by his father after admitting the crime to his family. Although brought up in a family of Republicans, Robinson had reportedly shown sympathy with left-wing causes in recent times.