FBI agents to attend funeral of El Paso shooting victim Margie Reckard with no family nearby
The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday evening that it would send a delegation to funeral services for an El Paso woman whose husband said he invited the public because he has no other family nearby.
“The FBI El Paso Division would be honored to attend Margie Reckard’s services this Friday night,” the FBI tweeted. “As part of this community, we won’t let anyone so severely hurt by this tragedy go through this alone. Mr. (Antonio) Basco, we stand with you.”
The FBI agents will be part of what Harrison Johnson, director of Perches Funeral Home, predicts will be an “overwhelming” turnout. He said strangers from as far away as California have expressed interest in attending Reckard’s services. Florists told ABC-7 that people from around the nation were ordering flowers for her funeral.
Our Victim Service Specalists and the FBI El Paso Division would be honored to attend Margie Reckard’s services this Friday night. As part of this community, we won’t let anyone so severely hurt by this tragedy go through this alone. Mr. Basco, we stand with you. #EPStrong pic.twitter.com/T70QtJB5ie
— FBI El Paso (@FBIElPaso) August 16, 2019
Reckard was married to Basco for 22 years. Since the couple has no family nearby, Perches Funeral Home posted Basco’s story on Facebook earlier this week, where it has since been shared over 14,000 times.
“He welcomes anyone to attend his wife’s services,” Perches captioned the post. “Let’s show him & his wife some El Paso love.”
Johnson told ABC News that Basco is stunned by the community support, which has resulted in Perches’ decision to relocate Reckard’s services to a larger venue.
Those services were originally set to be held in Perches northeast El Paso chapel that seats 250 people. The new location at La Paz Faith in central El Paso seats 500.
Perches is donating the funeral services to Basco at no cost.
“We know it’s a tough time in his life, being he lost his wife in this shooting,” Johnson said. “I’m just very honored to be able to help him through this process.”
He added: “We’re trying to make this the most pleasant and loving experience that Mr. Antonio could have [during his] last few hours with his wife.”
(ABC News contributed to this report.)
