The husband of a woman killed in the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, reportedly had his car stolen and vandalized a day after her funeral on Friday.
Eduardo Moreno of El Paso Towing confirmed to KTSM that Antonio Basco, 61, had his SUV stolen and wrecked on Saturday night. The vehicle, which apparently sustained damage on its windshield, hood, and roof, was ultimately found; Moreno said he towed it to Basco’s home for free after recognizing his name from the international stories about his wife’s death.
Basco’s wife, Margie Reckard, 63, was among the 22 people killed on August 3 when a gunman opened fire at a Walmart. On Friday, about 700 people—most of whom were strangers—attended Reckard’s funeral in a service that had to be moved to a more spacious building.
Antonio Basco arrived at the service and instead of going right inside the La Paz Faith Center walked down the street to greet the people who showed up.
People told him “You’re not alone” and “We’re your family.” https://t.co/9YobssgcAf pic.twitter.com/hOFgmYbT0k
— Adolfo Flores (@aflores) August 17, 2019
According to the BBC, a line of well-wishers circled the El Paso church and continued down a nearby road. Inside, the venue was standing-room-only: packed with people and hundreds of floral arrangements sent from all over the country and abroad.
In a Facebook post published on Tuesday, Perches Funeral Home asked the public to attend Reckard’s service as the widower had no other family. Since then, funeral home director Harrison B. Johnson told the BBC that they’ll be covering the full cost of the service.
“We have had a tremendous outpouring of support after we shared the post. It is our privilege to honor and serve the community to try and make that burden lighter after a tragedy that has devastated our community,” he said.
“We just wanted to do our part to help in some small way.”
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[Featured image: Antonio Basco/AP Photo/Jorge Salgado]