Man whose wife died in the El Paso shooting invites the public to her funeral

The shooting at an El Paso branch of Walmart last weekend was one of the deadliest in US history, claiming the lives of 22 people and leaving dozens more injured.

One of the fatalities was 63-year-old Margie Reckard, whose funeral service is being held this Friday.

She was the wife of 22 years to Antonio Basco, 61, who has no other family. Now, he has extended an open invitation to El Paso locals to share in his grief and celebrate the life of his much-loved wife.

The New York Post revealed that in addition to being a wife, Margie was a mother of two sons; the eldest of whom, Dean Reckard, said that she suffered from Parkinson's disease.

The invitation was shared on Facebook by Perches Funeral Home:

Following the devastating shooting on August 3, Antonio opened up about this wife's life to a local news station. In an interview with KFOX-TV, the 61-year-old said:

"When I met her she was an angel and she still is. I was supposed to be the strong one but I found out I'm the weak one, and she's going to be missed a lot.

"You didn't even have to be there to talk to her, you could just look at how she was, how she acted, how she presented herself - she was an awesome lady. You see Margie, more or less was the brains of the family.

"When we first met, that feeling came to each one of us, to each other, and we've been together ever since. We were gonna live together and die together that was our plan."

After last weekend's massacre, a gun violence research group reported that there have been more mass shootings in the US than days this year, CBS revealed.

This has resulted in increased pressure being placed on President Trump for major reform of the US's gun laws, with celebrities including Rhianna using their platform to slam the former businessman for his lack of action.

Instead of opting for reform, President Trump has blamed violent video games for the prevalence of shootings. This resulted in Walmart removing all ads and signs from their gaming displays which could be interpreted as condoning violence. Although, the store still sells guns.