RIVERSIDE,
Calif. — The regulars did not take it seriously when Enrique Marquez
mused about terrorism at Morgan’s Tavern, a dank dive bar where Mr.
Marquez hauled ice, cleaned bathrooms and checked IDs at the door. After
a few drinks, he would just start talking — about his money woes,
trying to lose weight, wanting to join the Navy. News reports about
terrorism were just fodder for more bar talk.
But
nine days after a husband and wife slaughtered 14 people in a terrorist
attack at a county health department meeting, Mr. Marquez, 24, a
childhood friend of the husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, has become a
crucial if unlikely figure in the investigation of the attack — which
was just the kind he discussed when terrorism news reports flashed onto
the tavern’s television.
While
he initially checked himself into a mental health facility after the
Dec. 2 massacre in San Bernardino, he has been speaking for hours with
federal investigators after waiving his right to remain silent and not
incriminate himself, officials say.
Federal
investigators believe that, more than any other witness, Mr. Marquez, a
convert to Islam, has “held the keys” to understanding Mr. Farook and
his wife, Tashfeen Malik, and to shedding light on whom they were in
contact with in the years leading to the attack, according to one senior
law enforcement official. The couple were killed in a shootout with the
police.
On
behalf of Mr. Farook, Mr. Marquez bought the two assault rifles used in
the attack, the authorities say. He told investigators he had done so,
in 2011 and 2012, because Mr. Farook believed he could not pass a
background check, officials said. Mr. Marquez has also described in
detail how he and Mr. Farook had been planning another terrorist attack
together in 2012, the authorities say.
They
appear to have been scared off by arrests related to a separate
terrorism ring in Riverside County that was prosecuted in 2012, the
authorities said, sending two men to federal prison for a scheme to kill
American troops in Afghanistan.
Mr.
Marquez’s cooperation with investigators could turn out to be very
detrimental to his future. His purchase of the assault rifles for Mr.
Farook and his planning of an attack in 2012, if proved, would be
federal crimes that come with stiff sentences, according to law
enforcement officials. While the authorities say they are grateful for
his cooperation, they will almost certainly charge him, officials said.
Mr.
Marquez has not yet been charged with any crime, and he has told
investigators he did not know that the couple were plotting the
shootings at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. But Mr.
Marquez’s role is particularly concerning because counterterrorism
officials believe that he represents a strand of impressionable people
at life’s margins with no obvious connections or sympathies with
terrorist groups, who can be goaded or enticed toward violence.
What Investigators Know About the San Bernardino Shooting
Officials have discovered a potential link between the attackers and Islamic extremism.
As
investigators burrow into Mr. Marquez’s life, they now suspect that Mr.
Farook and Ms. Malik were in the final planning stages of an assault on
a location or building, perhaps a nearby school or college, that held
many more people than the Inland Regional Center, according to a
congressional official who has received briefings from law enforcement.
Mr.
Farook smashed his cellphones and took steps to delete computer files,
but investigators have been able to retrieve photographs, including one
image of a local high school. On Thursday, divers started searching a lake in San Bernardino where the authorities suspect the couple dumped incriminating electronics, including a computer hard drive.
For
days, members of Mr. Marquez’s family have lain low inside their
palm-shaded home, where smashed windows and a broken garage door are the
lingering marks of raids by federal agents. Mr. Marquez’s mother,
Armida Chacon, briefly spoke to reporters Thursday, saying that her son
and Mr. Farook had simply been friends and that her son is a good
person. It is not known whether he has a lawyer.
Since
he was a child growing up in a single-level beige home on an ethnically
diverse block in suburban Riverside, Mr. Marquez fastened himself to
Mr. Farook and his family. He and Mr. Farook tinkered on cars in their
driveways.
He
converted to Islam and attended at least one of the same mosques as the
Farook family. When Mr. Farook’s older brother, Syed Raheel Farook,
married a Russian hairstylist named Tatiana Gigliotti, Mr. Marquez was
one of the witnesses. The other was Mr. Farook.
Last
year, Mr. Marquez married the Russian sister of Raheel Farook’s wife.
He later told a friend and people at Morgan’s Tavern that it was a sham
marriage for immigration purposes. Bar patrons said he told them he had
been paid $5,000 or $10,000 to marry Ms. Gigliotti’s sister, Mariya
Chernykh.
Mr.
Marquez had worked as a security guard at a local Walmart since May,
but the company has decided to fire him, said Deisha Barnett, a Walmart
spokeswoman.
He
did mention guns at least once to Mr. Rodriguez, his drinking buddy at
Morgan’s Tavern. Again, Mr. Rodriguez said, Mr. Marquez was drunkenly
bragging, this time about his work as a security guard. “He was talking
about his security card,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “He said something about
having guns.”
But again, Mr. Rodriguez said, no one took this claim very seriously, either.
Mr.
Marquez occasionally talked about Islam. Sometimes he came directly
from mosque to the bar, Mr. Rodriguez said, adding that this did not
deter him from drinking, even though Islam forbids alcohol. Mr. Marquez
did avoid eating pork, at least as far as Mr. Rodriguez observed.
“He
would come and say he just came from praying. He would just come in
after and drink, which I never understood.” Mr. Rodriguez said, adding
that he did not know what mosque he attended. Mr. Marquez never spoke
about any antipathy toward Israel or about the wars in Iraq or
Afghanistan, Mr. Rodriguez said.
People
at at least two local mosques had recollections of Mr. Marquez. Perhaps
two years ago, he worked briefly in the bookstore at the Islamic Center
of Riverside, congregants there said. “I recall him,” said one
congregant, Ahmad Zahran. “He comes in: ‘Hi, how you doing?’ ” But the
two never spoke more. “There was nothing alarming about him,” Mr. Zahran
said, “or he would have been reported.”
At
the Islamic Society of Corona-Norco, Azmi Hasan, the facilities
manager, recalled that Mr. Marquez first came to the mosque four to five
years ago, shortly after converting at another mosque. At first, he
came about once a month, usually to Friday Prayer.
“He looked very goofy,” Mr. Hasan said. “He looked like a regular kid.”
Members
of the Marquez family have not responded to requests for comment, and
lawyers for the Farook family did not respond to phone messages on
Friday. Ms. Chernykh could not be reached. Mr. Farook’s mother was
interviewed by investigators for at least seven hours, and family
members have said through their lawyer that they are cooperating with
the investigation.
Mr.
Marquez announced the marital arrangement one day when he came into the
bar — which the F.B.I. visited earlier this week — and offered to buy
everyone drinks, Mr. Rodriguez, the bar patron, said. It was unusual
behavior for Mr. Marquez, who was perpetually short on money; sometimes,
he could not afford gas for his car, or he asked people to buy him
drinks.
He
told Mr. Rodriguez that he had posted photographs of himself and his
wife at her apartment for the sake of appearances, but that Ms. Chernykh
did not live with him and would not so much as kiss him. Viviana
Ramirez, 23, a friend, said he did not seem happy with the arrangement.
One
night, she said, he rode his bike to her house, began drinking and told
her that he was married, but that it was an open relationship. “He
needed more attention than what she was giving him,” Ms. Ramirez said.
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