Buyer of guns used in massacre charged with terrorism counts

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.

Marquez, 24, was charged in a three-count indictment Thursday with buying the rifles used in the December 2 assault – which killed 14 people at the Inland Resource Center – plotting other terrorist attacks with gunman Syed Rizwan Farook in 2011 and 2012, and negotiating a sham marriage to a distant relative of Farook’s. He is scheduled for a bail hearing Monday.

Marquez bought a pair of AR-15 rifles from a sporting goods store that were planned to be use in these abandoned attacks. Later during that call, he said that Mr. Farook “used my gun in the shooting”, and “they can trace all the guns back to me”. The FBI had not previously released information from these interviews. The purchases were unlawful, prosecutors allege, because Marquez signed legal documents saying the guns were for only the personal use of himself and his immediate family.

Marquez, a longtime friend of Syed Rizwan Farook, the male shooter in the San Bernardino terrorist… According to the criminal complaint, the plot targeted the school’s cafeteria and library because they wanted to maximize casualties.

“The f****** a****** used my gun in the shooting”, Marquez said. A second attack was planned during afternoon rush hour on the eastbound lanes of State Route 91.

The 91 Freeway plot would have involved Farook throwing pipe bombs onto the freeway to disable vehicles and stop traffic. He added after a brief exchange with an unidentified Facebook user: “Involved in terrorist plots, drugs, antisocial behavior, marriage, might go to prison for fraud, etc”.

Marquez told the dispatcher, “My neighbor”. Communications between the Marquez and Farook dramatically declined the following year.

He said they didn’t see much of each other after it unraveled, though he deepened his connection with the Farook family, marrying the Russian sister of the wife of Farook’s brother previous year.

He was led into radical Islamist ideology by his next door neighbor, Syed Rizwan Farook, known as Rizwan. According to the affidavit filed by Special Agent Joel Anderson, Marquez met Farook after moving to Riverside in 2005.

Marquez was a licensed security guard for several years, but his license expired at the end of 2014. He had worked at Wal-Mart since May but has since been fired, spokesman Brian Nick said.

It was discovered that Marquez and his wife did not even live together.

He last saw Marquez in the past month or so when Marquez fell asleep at a friend’s house and they stacked beer cans on his body. Marquez allegedly purchased two rifles used in the attack and had plotted to carry out attacks with Farook in 2011.

“When he woke up, he just started laughing”, Lopez said.

In an Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit accompanying the indictment, investigators said Marquez hinted at his involvement with Farook in a post on his verified Facebook account on November 5 – nearly a full month before the massacre. “It was a pleasure”, he wrote, shortly before checking himself into a local mental health facility, according to the Post.

“His life is over”, one of Marquez’s co-workers at Morgan’s Tavern in Riverside, told my colleague Sari Horwitz and me a few days ago as we were trying to learn more about Marquez. The officials aren’t authorized to discuss it by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

San Bernardino Police Department officials planned to meet Friday morning to discuss the possibility of road closures.