Friend of San Bernardino shooter facing terrorism charges

LOS ANGELES: US authorities arrested Thursday a man who bought the assault rifles used in the San Bernardino massacre that left 14 people dead, charging him with plotting terror attacks with Syed Farook, who was behind the rampage. Enrique Marquez, 24, was charged with conspiring with Farook — a longtime friend and former neighbor — to commit two terrorist attacks in 2011 and 2012, though neither plot was ever carried out.

Marquez was also charged with the unlawful purchase of the guns used in the December 2 shooting rampage carried out by US-born Farook and his Pakistani wife Tashfeen Malik, as well as the purchase of some of the explosive material used in the attack. The three-count criminal complaint also charged Marquez with defrauding immigration authorities by entering into a sham marriage with a Russian woman who was a member of Farook’s extended family, US Attorney for the Central District of California, Eileen Decker, said in a statement.