Friend of San Bernardino shooter arrested, charged with unlawful purchase of assault rifles – A friend of the San Bernardino, California, couple whose shooting rampage two weeks ago left fourteen people dead, was arrested and charged on Thursday with the unlawful purchase of two assault rifles used in the attack.
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Family of Enrique Marquez describe him as a “nice guy” and friends said they were shocked to hear of his involvement with the shooting.
A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court charges Marquez with three counts that could bring a maximum of 35 years in federal prison.
24, was charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists for those earlier plots with Syed Rizwan Farook.
But neighbors and friends say they hardly seemed like a cohabiting couple.
U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker said, “While there now is no evidence that Mr. Marquez participated in the December 2 attack or had advance knowledge of it, his prior purchase of the firearms and ongoing failure to warn authorities about Farook’s intent to commit mass murder had fatal consequences”.
“I’m. Very sorry sguys”. According to reports, Marquez, who is employed as a doorman at the pirate-themed Morgan’s Tavern in Riverside, did not show up for work after the attacks.
After Marquez emerged as the buyer of two weapons used in the shooting that killed 14 at the Inland Regional Center, public records disclosed that he had marital ties to Farook.
Towards the end of 2005, Marquez visited a mosque in Corona, California, and began to spend more time next door at Farook’s home, praying and discussing an increasingly radical form of Islam.
But prosecutors said he was linked to the killings by the guns and explosive materials he bought years earlier.
Authorities also charged Marquez with entering a sham marriage with Farook’s relative so she could gain legal status in the US.
-/AFP/Getty Images Enrique Marquez allegedly provided rifles to Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik.
Farook and Marquez also planned to attack motorists on State Route 91 during afternoon rush hour, prosecutors allege. That plan involved Farook throwing pipe bombs at cars, with Marquez shooting first responders from a vantage point. Meanwhile, Marquez planned to be positioned on a nearby hillside where he would also execute people from a distance, starting with responding law enforcement and emergency medical personnel. They scrapped their plans after apparently getting spooked by the late-2012 arrests of a group of men in Southern California plotting to go fight in the Middle East. Communications between the Marquez and Farook dramatically declined the following year. A call to 9-1-1 in the moments after the shooting may reveal his state of mind.
“I don’t know anything about the situation – like I said, she’s my baby’s mama”.
An unidentified Facebook user engaged with Marquez, observing: “I think everyone leads multiple lives”. Marquez’s 911 call the day after the attack is also detailed in the affidavit. Marquez: He was the shooter. To me, he was reliable enough for him for storage, like to store my gun. Why do you feel like you want to kill yourself? Marquez told authorities he converted to Islam around age 16 and four years later was spending most of his time at Farook’s home, reading, listening to and watching “radical Islamic content” that included al-Qaida instructions on how to make bomb.
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“He’s continued to cooperate with investigators since they got ahold of him”, a counter terrorism official familiar with the investigation told ABC News. Beginning in 2011, the two began hatching plans for terror strikes, frequenting gun ranges in Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles to train for terrorist attacks, according to the complaint.
