A man who bought two assault rifles husband-and-wife terrorists used to kill 14 people on Dec. 2, 2015, in San Bernardino, Calif., was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday.
Federal authorities said Enrique Marquez Jr., 28, purchased two AR-15 style rifles that were used by Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik in the mass shooting at a holiday party of county workers in a government building.
At the time, it was the worst terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Farook, who was a San Bernardino County employee, and Malik died in a shootout with police later that day of the attack.
Marquez pleaded guilty in 2017 to “conspiracy to provide material support and resources to terrorists,” the U.S. attorney’s office in the Central District of California said in a statement, the Journal reported.
He also admitted that he discussed attacking Riverside City College in Riverside, Calif., and a state freeway with Farook in 2011 and 2012, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Marquez also pleaded guilty to making false statements around his involvement in buying the two weapons that he provided to Farook that were used in the attack.
“Mr. Marquez could have intervened to support law enforcement instead of supporting terrorists,” Kristi Johnson, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement, the Journal reported.
“He might have thwarted the December 2nd attack, but he chose to stay silent before being captured.”
Authorities have said the married couple who committed the attack were Islamic extremists, and that Farook introduced radical Islamic teachings to Marquez, his friend and former neighbor.
Related Stories:
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.