In 2013, their relationship begins to deteriorate and Marquez told investigators they ceased planning attacks.
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In this courtroom sketch, Enrique Marquez appears in federal court in Riverside, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015.
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File).
Enrique Marquez, a longtime friend of the man behind the terror attack in San Bernardino, California, is not accused of direct involvement in that shooting.
The 24-year-old Marquez was charged Thursday with terrorism-related counts including illegally purchasing two assault rifles used by Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, to kill 14 people on December 2.
Marquez bought a pair of AR-15 rifles from a sporting goods store that were planned to be use in these abandoned attacks.
Marquez wore dark-rimmed glasses and a beige T-shirt over black trousers with the pockets turned out.
He gave one-word answers to technical questions before being ordered into USA marshals’ custody. His bail hearing was continued to Monday.
If convicted, Marquez could face up to 35 years in prison for all three charges.
The officials say the exact federal charges against Enrique Marquez aren’t immediately clear.
Marquez had a security guard license in California for several years, but it expired last year.
He later bought smokeless powder found in one of improvised explosive devices found at the scene of the San Bernardino attack, investigators say. The couple used that material in a remote-controlled pipe bomb that never detonated at the conference room where the shootings occurred.
“[Marquez’s] prior purchase of the firearms and ongoing failure to warn authorities about Farook’s intent to commit mass murder had fatal consequences”, US Attorney Eileen Decker said.
Enrique Marquez signed of waiver of his right to remain silent and his right to a lawyer each day of questioning, the New York Times reports.
“This wasn’t a conversation with an average Joe”, Estrada said.
New revelations from officials and public records in recent days have shown a much deeper connection between Farook and Marquez than previously disclosed. He was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward. But according to Marquez, he began to distance himself from Farook in 2012 following the arrest of Ralph Deleon, who engaged in similar terroristic ideologies and plots to kill Americans. The plan was to throw pipe bombs into the cafeteria area from the second floor, and to shoot people as they fled, according to the DOJ news release.
The documents say the men also identified a long stretch of the 91 freeway with no exits, where Farook would throw pipe bombs that would stop rush-hour traffic, allowing him then to walk along the freeway and gun down motorists in their stranded cars. Marquez’s role would be to stay in the hills above, shooting drivers from there and firing on police as they arrived.
As part of the plan, Marquez bought two assault rifles – in November 2011 and February 2012.
“Specifically, Marquez admitted that he would purchase the firearms because his appearance was Caucasian, while Farook looked Middle Eastern”, reads the complaint.
Marquez: The (expletive) (expletive) used my gun in the shooting.
Prosecutors said it was a sham marriage to help the woman obtain USA residency.
Marquez said he and Farook planned the plot on Riverside Community College because both had been students there and knew where the biggest crowds gathered and what the best escape routes would be, according to the documents. “My world is upside-down”, she said tearfully.
Marquez was not a member of that mosque, Azmi Hasan said.
Melley reported from Los Angeles.
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Few details were known about the Obamas’ Friday visit, but they planned to depart from the South Lawn of the White House and land at the San Bernardino International Airport that night.
