Friend of San Bernardino attackers faces terrorism charges

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - Enrique Marquez Jr., who bought the assault-style rifles used in an attack that killed 14 people earlier this month, was charged Thursday with conspiring to carry out two other attacks in 2012, federal officials said.

Marquez and Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the shooters on Dec. 2, had planned to attack other targets in southern California, including a community college and highway, charging documents filed Thursday show.

The documents provide the clearest look yet not only of Marquez but of Farook, who died along with his wife in a shootout with police after the massacre.

Farook was interested in violent extremism at least two years before he and his future wife, Tashfeen Malik, corresponded online about waging violent jihad, according to Marquez's account to the government. The FBI also alleges Farook was the force guiding Marquez toward violent extremism.

The charges against Marquez are the first to stem from the investigation into the massacre, the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001. The FBI arrested Marquez, 24, Thursday.

'While there currently is no evidence that Mr. Marquez participated in the Dec. 2, 2015, 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,” U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker said in a statement.

Farook and Marquez never attempted to carry out their earlier plans, records show, but their plotting reached a high level of detail.

In their plan to attack State Route 91, a heavily-trafficked road that runs through the heart of Riverside, the two men considered throwing pipe bombs to stop traffic, the FBI alleges. Authorities say the men even scoped out a hill from which one could watch for approaching law enforcement while the other moved among the stopped vehicles firing into cars and killing motorists.

In another plot, the two discussed going to Riverside City College, a community college both had attended, and throwing pipe bombs into the cafeteria before attacking another location.

Authorities said that in addition to buying the guns used by the husband-and-wife attackers, Marquez bought explosive material used to construct the pipe bomb authorities found at the Inland Regional Center after the shooting attack.

The complaint states that hours after the shooting, Marquez called 911 to report Farook had used his gun.

'My neighbor. He did the San Bernardino shooting,” Marquez told the 911 operator, using expletives.

After Marquez had moved to Riverside, his next-door neighbor introduced him to Islam. By 2007, Marquez had converted to the religion and Farook began educating him about the views of Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born imam and Islamic lecturer who inspired numerous terrorist attacks and was killed in a 2011 drone strike.

The two men read al-Qaida's English-language Inspire magazine, which has published directions for building bombs, and watched videos promoting extremism.

Marquez bought two assault rifles for Farook - one in November 2011, the other in February 2012 -- with the intention of using them in these attacks, he told investigators. Investigators note that Marquez said he bought them because he looked Caucasian, while Farook had a Middle Eastern appearance. Marquez went on to sign forms stating that he was buying them for himself, and not as a straw purchase where the guns were intended for another person.

Both guns were recovered at the scene of the firefight between police officers and Farook and Malik, and investigators say they were used in the attack at the Inland Regional Center that day.

Law enforcement authorities searched Marquez's home three days after the shooting. At the time, he was not charged with a crime and officials have said he was cooperating with investigators.

He checked himself into a mental-health facility in the aftermath of the shooting. When he was tracked down, he waived his right to have an attorney present, the complaint states.