The man accused of purchasing two of the assault rifles used in the San Bernardino terrorist attacks was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
Enrique Marquez Jr. was indicted on charges that he lied about buying some of the weapons that his longtime friend, Syed Rizwan Farook, and Farook’s wife, Tashfeen Malik, used when they killed 14 people during a holiday party for Farook’s coworkers on Dec. 2 in southern California, the Department of Justice announced. Prosecutors also said Marquez was indicted on charges that he conspired with Farook to plot two other attacks in 2011 and 2012, which were later called off.
Prosecutors previously announced those plots involved using pipe bombs and explosives at Riverside Community College, where both Farook and Marquez studied, and a stretch of highway during rush-hour traffic. Prosecutors allege Marquez bought two assault rifles in 2011 and 2012 and claimed they were for his own use, when he was actually giving them to Farook for the attacks.
Marquez and Farook allegedly visited gun ranges to practice shooting, prosecutors have said, but Marquez ultimately distanced himself from his friend after other people in Southern California were arrested on terrorism charges. But the Justice Department has said the guns Marquez bought were among the four weapons authorities recovered after Farook and Malik died in a shootout with police, and forensic testing confirmed that those two rifles were used in the deadly rampage.
“Mr. Marquez is charged for his role in a conspiracy several years ago to target innocent civilians in our own backyard with cold-blooded terror attacks, and with providing weapons to an individual whose endgame was murder,” David Bowdich, the assistant director of the FBI’s office in Los Angeles, said in a statement.
Prosecutors said Marquez was indicted on two counts of making a false statement about the gun buys, one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and two counts related to marrying one of Farook’s family members, which prosecutors allege was a sham to help the woman’s immigration status. The indictments came about two week after Marquez was charged.
Marquez, 24, is being held without bond pending a Jan. 6 court appearance, according to prosecutors. If he’s convicted of the most serious offense, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, prosecutors said he faces a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
