RIVERSIDE, Calif., Jan. 6 (UPI) — Enrique Marquez, friend of the couple who carried out the San Bernardino massacre, plead not guilty to all five charges against him on Wednesday.
Marquez, 24, pleaded not guilty in a federal court in Riverside, Calif., CBS Los Angeles reported. He faces charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorism, making false statements to authorities about firearms and an unrelated count of immigration fraud in connection to his marriage to a Russian national.
Marquez previously told police he bought the .223-caliber DPMS model AR-15 and the Smith & Wesson M&P15 assault-style rifles used in the Dec. 2 attack, a criminal complaint against him read. Officials say Marquez bought the weapons as a favor to Farook, who said he didn’t want to be on a gun registry.
While the conspiracy charge doesn’t specifically accuse Marquez of having any advanced knowledge of the San Bernardino plot, FBI investigators said he and Farook did acquire the firearms with the intent of carrying out some type of violent attack — which they allegedly began discussing in 2011.
After the San Bernardino massacre, Marquez frantically called 911.
“My neighbor, he did the San Bernardino shooting,” Marquez purportedly said, according to an FBI affidavit filed in a recent criminal complaint, ABC News reported. “He was the shooter… F***ing a**hole used my gun in the shooting … They can trace all the guns back to me.”
