El Paso Walmart Massacre Widower Who Invited Public To Wife's Funeral Arrested For DWI
EL PASO (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — After his wife was shot and killed in the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso he invited the public to her funeral. Now the man who drew worldwide sympathy and support has been arrested on a drunken-driving charge.
Antonio Basco remained Tuesday night in the El Paso County Jail on a misdemeanor count of driving while intoxicated.
An El Paso Police Department report says an officer found the 61-year-old widower asleep in a sport utility vehicle parked on a street near downtown.
The report says that when asked if he was all right, Basco said he'd been at the Walmart memorial all day "and was very tired." He was arrested after a field sobriety test.
Basco's wife, Margie Reckard, was among 22 people killed in the August shooting at a Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall.
As Basco mourned at a memorial near the site of the shooting he invited the community to his wife's funeral, saying he had no other family in El Paso. Days before the funeral Basco had said he was not ready to learn how to live by himself.
Thousands of people, from around the world, ended up making their way to the Mexican border city for Reckard's service. She had been Basco's companion for 22 years.
Bond for Antonio Basco is set at $2,500. No attorney is listed for him in jail or court records
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
