Buyer of Guns in San Bernardino Terror Attack Arrested

WASHINGTON (Reuters) —
Weapons confiscated from last Wednesday's attack in San Bernardino, California are shown in this San Bernardino County Sheriff Department handout photo from their Twitter account released to Reuters December 3, 2015. Federal authorities are preparing criminal charges against Enrique Marquez -- a friend and former neighbor of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik -- who investigators say supplied guns to the married couple who killed 14 people at a holiday party in San Bernardino, California, this month, two government sources said December 17, 2015. REUTERS/San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department/Handout ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - RTX1X439
Weapons confiscated from the San Bernardino attack. (Reuters/San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department/Handout)

A former neighbor suspected of supplying guns to the married couple who massacred 14 people in San Bernardino, California, was arrested and charged on Thursday with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Enrique Marquez, a friend of Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, who carried out the Islamic State-inspired Dec. 2 terror attack with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, was also charged with defrauding immigration authorities by entering into a sham marriage with a member of Farook’s family, prosecutors said.

Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin said in a statement that Marquez is charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists “for his role in plotting attacks on American soil in 2011 and 2012, attacks which were, fortunately, not carried out.”

Carlin said Marquez, 24, is also charged with a firearms violation for making a “straw purchase” of weapons for Farook.

A garage door of Enrique Marquez's home is seen broken in a recent FBI raid, in Riverside, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A garage door of Enrique Marquez’s home is seen broken in a recent FBI raid, in Riverside, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

According to an affidavit, Marquez told investigators he and Farook made plans to attack the library or cafeteria at Riverside Community College in California in late 2011.

He and Farook also planned to attack a state highway during rush hour with pipe bombs and shoot at law-enforcement and emergency crews as they arrived.

Marquez, who had checked himself into a Los Angeles-area psychiatric facility shortly after the shootings, had several connections to Farook and Malik and quickly became a key figure in the investigation of the shootings. The Federal Bureau of Investigation raided his home and questioned him for several days. Sources said Marquez cooperated during their interviews.

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