A criminal complaint filed by an Federal Bureau of Investigation agent claims that Syed Rizwan Farook and Enrique Marquez planned two attacks designed for mass casualties years before the December 2 shooting in San Bernardino, California, allegedly perpetrated by Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik.
Advertisement
United States authorities arrested Thursday a man who bought the assault rifles used in the San Bernardino massacre that left 14 people dead, charging him with plotting terror attacks with Syed Farook, who was behind the rampage. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for January 4. The activity in the case comes one day before President Obama was scheduled to arrive in San Bernardino to meet with survivors of the carnage.Marquez assisted authorities in identifying Farook’s radicalization process to a period before he began communicating with Malik online, more than two years before the San Bernardino attacks.
News reports that officials say Marquez told them he acquired the weapons as a favor so that Farook would not have to go through a background check. The FBI had not previously released information from these interviews.
In California, home to some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, it is illegal to transfer weapons without going through a registered dealer and getting a background check. “Very sorry guys. It was a pleasure”, the Los Angeles Times reported. The plot targeted the cafeteria and library.
Participants in the 2005 London subway bombings, the 2006 plot to detonate truck bombs in Ontario, Canada, the 2010 Times Square bombing and the 2012 plot to bomb the Federal Reserve in Manhattan all had listened to or heard al-Awlaki lectures before the attacks, Anderson wrote.
In a Facebook posting from Marquez’s profile just hours after the attack, he said, “I’m”. The pair chose a stretch of State Route 91 in Riverside where there were no exits to “increase the number of targets”.
He also told investigators that he used to build pipe bombs with Farook, portraying himself and his friend as hobbyists experimenting with building the devices, law enforcement officials said.
Shortly afterward Marquez was admitted to the emergency room at UCLA-Harbor Medical Center, and referred to the psychiatric ward.
A day afterward, Marquez called 911, according to a transcript included in the affidavit. Marquez: They can trace all the guns back to me.
Marquez bought the two assault rifles for Farook so that they would not be registered in the latter’s name, as well as the explosives.
In the course of the investigation, investigators say Marquez disclosed that he was paid $200 monthly to enter into a “sham” marriage with the Russian sister of one of Farook’s in-laws to allow her to stay in the U.S.
It was discovered that Marquez and his wife did not even live together.
Records show Marquez married Chernykh at a ceremony at the Islamic Society of Corona-Norco in California a year ago, although the mosque’s facility manager denied it occurred there.
But, if convicted, he could still be looking at a lot of years in prison.
Marquez was a licensed security guard for several years, but his license expired at the end of 2014.
Farook and Malik opened fire on Farook’s co-workers at a work event December 2.
Contact between the two men declined in 2013 and they ceased planning attacks, Marquez allegedly told authorities. His brother-in-law, Raheel Farook, is a Navy veteran who served from 2003 to 2007 and earned the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, among other awards.
According to the complaint, Marquez called 911 on December 3.
Later, Marquez tells the operator, “The f–ing asshole used my gun in the shooting”.
Advertisement
The Russian sisters came to the United States on visas for work or study exchange programs, according to a federal official who requested anonymity.
