Another crowd of hundreds of strangers turns out for shooting victim Margie Reckard’s burial

A crowd of strangers has said goodbye to an El Paso shooting victim after her longtime companion said he felt alone and invited the public to her funeral.

Hundreds of well-wishers gathered at an El Paso cemetery on Saturday to support Antonio Basco as he buried 63-year-old Margie Reckard, his companion of 22 years.

Basco made international news after he told reporters he had almost no family members left and felt he was going to say goodbye to Reckard alone.

Reckard was killed by a gunman who opened fire during a mass shooting at El Paso’s Cielo Vista Walmart this month.

Perches Funeral Home said more than 3,000 people showed up at Friday night’s prayer service to pay their respects to a woman they had never met. Strangers from Los Angeles to Tucson traveled to El Paso for the service.

Angelique Tadeo of Tucson said she and her husband, Paul, and their 3-year-old granddaughter drove more than four hours to attend Reckard’s memorial on Friday night. Tadeo worked as a nurse and treated victims during the 2011 shooting in Arizona that injured former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six.