Man who bought guns used in 2015 massacre gets 20 years
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — The man who bought two rifles that terrorists used to kill 14 people in a 2015 terror attack in San Bernardino, California, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Enrique Marquez Jr. was sentenced Friday for supplying the rifles used by his friend Syed Rizwan Farook and Farook’s wife to open fire on a gathering of Farook’s co-workers from San Bernardino County nearly five years ago.
After killing 14 people and wounding 22, Farook and his wife were killed in a gunbattle with authorities.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — The man who bought two rifles that a husband and wife used to kill 14 people in a Southern California terror attack in 2015 should spend 25 years in prison, a prosecutor told a judge Friday.
Enrique Marquez Jr., 28, has a high IQ and the mental capacity to understand the likelihood of an attack occurring once he bought the weapons, prosecutor Melanie Sartoris said.
“He knew all along that this would happen,” but he did nothing, Sartoris said.
Victims' families watched the sentencing hearing in Riverside federal court, not far from the city of San Bernardino where the attack was carried out nearly five years ago.
The defense asked for a five-year term in filings before the hearing. Defense attorney John Aquilina argued in court that his client had no knowledge of what was going to happen.
“Mr. Marquez’s sentence should not be reflective of what happened in San Bernardino,” he said.
Prosecutors contend Marquez must be held responsible for his actions, which include giving semiautomatic weapons and explosives to a person he knew was inspired by violent extremists and plotting with him to kill large numbers of people.
“And the undeniable truth...