Gun Buyer Plotted With Shooter: Cops

Enrique Marquez was long-time friend of Syed Rizwan Farook
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 10, 2015 6:47 AM CST
Gun Buyer Plotted With Shooter: Cops
A garage door of Enrique Marquez's home is seen broken in a recent FBI raid, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015, in Riverside, Calif.   (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Enrique Marquez didn't just purchase two guns used in the San Bernardino shooting. Officials tell CNN the long-time friend and next-door neighbor of Syed Rizwan Farook has also admitted to plotting an attack with Farook in 2012. They allegedly put the plan on ice after four people in the area were accused of trying to travel abroad to carry out jihad. Marquez—who married the sister of Farook's sister-in-law in November 2014—reportedly told investigators that he and Farook "were on the path to radicalization as early as 2011," reports CNN. Authorities raided Marquez's mother's home over the weekend and have been questioning Marquez, 24, over several days, reports the Los Angeles Times. Marquez, who admitted himself to a mental health facility after the shooting, maintains he had no prior knowledge of the attack, investigators say.

Marquez's marriage license lists his address as the home of Farook's father or brother, per the AP and CNN. The manager of the mosque on the license says Marquez had converted to Islam but only worshiped there a few times. He most recently worked as a security guard at a Walmart but has since been fired, a rep says. A friend from Riverside City College—which Marquez attended from 2009 to 2011—says his ultimate goal was to join the US Navy. He was focused on fitness but occasionally wrote on Facebook about being sad or lonely, she says. He also said he was "not clicking" with his Russian wife and didn't live with her. Marquez "is a really good person" and wouldn't knowingly help Farook and Malik with a deadly attack, she adds. Hours after the shooting, however, a message appeared on Marquez’s Facebook page: "I'm. Very sorry sguys [sic]," it read. "It was a pleasure." (More San Bernardino shooting stories.)

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