El Paso victim's husband given new SUV to replace vehicle stolen after funeral
A man whose wife was killed in the El Paso shooting had his SUV stolen and wrecked after her funeral over the weekend. After hearing about his ordeal, a local car dealership gave Antonio Basco a new car on Monday.
Casa Ford Lincoln, a dealership in El Paso, posted on its Facebook page that it was looking for ways to help following reports of Basco's vehicle being stolen and damaged in the hours after the funeral for his wife, Margie Reckard. The dealership eventually gave Basco a new Ford Escape and a trailer.
"The Love of God has no borders," the dealership wrote in a Facebook post. Photos and a video of a smiling Basco receiving the SUV were sprinkled throughout the dealership's page.
CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reported that the pressure washer he used for his mobile car wash job was inside his SUV when it was stolen. An anonymous donor bought him a new pressure washer.
Despite the theft of his SUV, the spirit of goodwill descended upon Basco in the wake of tragedy. Reckard was one of 22 people killed when a gunman opened fire at the El Paso Walmart on Aug. 3. On Friday, thousands of strangers came to Reckard's funeral after Basco got the word out that he had almost no family, and he invited the public to join him in remembering his companion of 22 years.
He thought he might get a few well-wishers from El Paso. Then, the flowers started coming in and the funeral home had to change venues. People came from all over the Southwest and across the border in Mexico. They stood in line for hours Friday for the funeral, then waited Saturday in the heat as Basco buried her.
"We told him that El Paso loves him, and this is his home," Delilah Solice said. "And he has family here, and he is not alone."
