The width of the stance depends mainly on the practicioner. For example, Sun Lutang was a Hebei Xingyi guy, but his stances were far from wide, while Jiang Ronqiao used to have wide stances as well as long extensions of the fists. Zhang Zhaodong used to have wide stances too.
And Song style (Shanxi) has very close stances, while Bu style has wide ones, and high kicking techniques.
It seems that the man in the article parcticed with Hong Yixiang, which was a Hebei practicioner.
"I'm into murders and executions, mostly"