Thousands showed up for the funeral of an El Paso mass attack victim whose husband had said that the public was invited since he had no other family.
63-year-old Margie Reckard was killed in the horrific attack by a man expressing hatred for Mexican immigrants in a manifesto.
Her husband, Antonio Basco, described his loss to KFOX-TV.
"When I met her she was an angel and she still is," Basco said. "I was supposed to be the strong one but I found out I'm the weak one, and she's going to be missed."
On Tuesday, the funeral home attending to Reckard's burial ledt a message from Basco on their Facebook page.
"Mr. Antonio Basco was Married for 22yrs to his wife Margie Reckard, He had no other family. He welcomes anyone to attend his Wife's services," the post read.
The post quickly went viral and made national headlines.
On Friday, thousands showed up to pay their respects to Reckard and show their compassion for Basco.
Thousands of El Pasoans are saying goodbye to Margie Reckard, victims of the #ElPasoShooting and consoling her husb… https://t.co/ss7tg9sQuf— Julio-Cesar Chavez (@Julio-Cesar Chavez)1566002991.0
Reuters reporter Julio Cesar-Chavez posted a video of the line outside the prayer service for Reckard, and said it extended for nearly a mile.
Gadi Schwartz of NBC posted a video of the hundreds of flower arrangements that were sent to the funeral home.
This is incredible... just some of the hundreds of flowers for El Paso’s Margie Reckard. Margie was her husbands on… https://t.co/jiA1DL07Bm— Gadi Schwartz (@Gadi Schwartz)1565988742.0
The memorial service was packed.
A gorgeous voice and music...strangers and friends in the community rise up on their feet as Margie Reckard's casket is brought in for the memorial service in El Paso. Her widower said he had no remaining family. And People. Showed. Up. pic.twitter.com/b62fvgvKgl
— Natasha Chen (@NatashaChenCNN) August 16, 2019
"We were gonna live together and die together that was our plan," Basco said.
A GoFundMe donation page for the family of Margie Reckard has raised more than $30,000.
Here's a news video about the extraordinary funeral:
El Paso widower invites entire city to wife's funeral www.youtube.com
