U.S. to charge man who supplied guns to California shooters: sources

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Federal authorities are preparing criminal charges against a man who investigators say supplied guns to the married couple who killed 14 people at a holiday party in San Bernardino, California, this month, two government sources said on Thursday.

Enrique Marquez, a friend and former neighbor of radicalized Muslim Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, who carried out the Dec. 2 attack with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, could be charged as early as Thursday, CNN and NBC reported, citing unnamed law enforcement officials.

U.S. prosecutors are considering filing firearms charges against Marquez, with state gun charges also possible, one of the government sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Marquez, 24, who had checked himself into a Los Angeles-area psychiatric facility shortly after the shootings, had several connections to Farook and Malik and quickly became a key figure in the investigation of the shootings. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is treating the attack as an "act of terror," raided his home and questioned him for several days. Sources said Marquez cooperated during their interviews.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-shooting-marquez-idUSKBN0U01OQ20151217

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US | Thu Dec 17, 2015 10:32am EST Related: U.S.
WASHINGTON | BY MARK HOSENBALL

[maxsolomon]

1. After reading a profile of him in the NYT

he struck me as a useful idiot. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, as evidenced by his willingness to straw purchase for Farook.

[MynameisBlarney]

3. I think they used his loneliness and intimidated him

into buying it.
But still, he could have said no.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

5. He was also a childhood friend

This is strange:

" In 2014, according to state records, Marquez married a Russian woman who was the sister of Farook’s older brother’s wife. Neighbors said they were surprised to learn that he had been married, having never seen him with a woman."

I wonder if the other two wives underwent the same level of investigation as Farook's terrorist bride. And since Marquez didn't live with his bride, you have to wonder if she slipped through the cracks, as well. Was that a sham marriage?

[EL34x4]

6. Sham marriages to Russian women are common.

They pay good money for a spousal visa, come over to the U.S. and the husband never sees them again. A bunch of guys in the Navy got busted a few years back for taking part in this.

[MynameisBlarney]

8. I would imagine a Russian mail order bride

would be a sham.

[MynameisBlarney]

2. As they should.

Are they going to charge the people that supplied the guns to that asshole that killed all those people at the PP clinic?

[PersonNumber503602]

9. Did the Planned Parenthood clinic shooter get his weapons from a supplier illegally?

I am not asking in a snarky way. I'm honestly asking the question. I did a quick search to see if I could find any information on it, and from what I can tell it was purchased legally. Whether you or I believe it should be illegal is irrelevant when it comes to charging the supplier right now. If he didn't break any laws, then he cannot be charged. Perhaps we can change laws so that in the future all gun suppliers are 100% responsible for anything the buyer does with their guns, but that's not the law now. That being said, I may be making incorrect assumptions about the legality of his gun purchase. Please correct me if I am wrong with respect to that.

[MynameisBlarney]

11. I don't know

But I hope the feds are looking into it as well.

[totodeinhere]

12. It will depend on if the guns were supplied legally or not. If the guns came from

a licensed gun retailer then no.

[vkkv]

4. Mentally ill gun DEALERS... just what we need.. n/t

[cstanleytech]

7. Hey if we can have mentally ill politicians like Ryan, Cruz, Bush and Carson why not gun dealers????

[maxsolomon]

10. Marquez wasn't a Dealer

He was a Straw Purchaser.