Charges expected against San Bernardino Shooters’ Neighbor

Now the feds are poised to file criminal charges against Marquez, a neighbor and friend to the Muslim couple that carried out the murderous rampage at the Inland Regional Center.

Tashfeen Malik, (L), and Syed Farook are pictured passing through Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in this July 27, 2014 handout photo obtained by Reuters December 8, 2015. Marquez claims he did it as a favor to his friend Farook, so that he could avoid background checks, and so he wouldn’t be registered as a purchaser.

– From Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C.

Viviana Ramirez, who went to school with Marquez, said she thought it was a joke when she heard his name linked to the San Bernardino tragedy.

After the shootings he checked himself into a mental health facility and was later taken into the custody by authorities. Two days prior to the raid, Marquez posted a message to Facebook.

In 2012, San Bernardino resident Farook and then-neighbor Marquez were plotting a terrorist attack but apparently got cold feet after four men were arrested in connection with a terrorist plot in the area, authorities said.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the attorneys, David Chesley and Mohammad Abuershaid, confirmed the burial, but gave no further details.

Marquez’s friends described him as a friendly, easygoing guy who was not religious and rarely discussed his family or marriage.

FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that Malik and Farook communicated privately online about jihad and martyrdom before they married.

Marquez could potentially face charges ranging from weapons violations to conspiracy.

Farook and Malik used rifles and semiautomatic pistols to carry out their attack, as well as a bomb that failed to detonate.

Marquez was a state-licensed security guard until his license expired previous year. Federal authorities say the pair had become self-radicalized in the years before Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, opened fire on Farook’s co-workers.

President Barack Obama will visit with the victims’ families in San Bernardino on Friday, on his way to Hawaii for the first family’s Christmas vacation.