The FBI arrested on Thursday a friend of the married couple who carried out the shooting, and the FBI affidavit discloses some of the evidence the government has against the friend, Enrique Marquez, Jr.
In the document, the FBI notes
that after the December 2 attack started, a post on a Facebook page
associated with Tashfeen Malik read: “We pledge allegiance to Khalifa bu
bkr al bhaghdadi al quraishi.” The FBI agent noted that he believes the
post is referring to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the terrorist
group ISIS — aka the Islamic State, ISIL, and Daesh.
The morning of December 2, Malik allegedly searched social media for
“materials related to” ISIS, according to the FBI affidavit.The attack started at about 10:58 a.m. local time, and the Facebook post appeared at 11:14 a.m.
Authorities have charged
24-year-old Marquez, a former neighbor of the couple, with conspiring to
provide material support or resources to terrorists. Marquez is
suspected of buying the rifles used in the attack and plotting terrorist
attacks with the male shooter, Syed Rizwan Farook, in 2011 and 2012.
Farook, a US citizen, and Malik,
who came to the US from Pakistan to marry Farook, opened fire on the
Inland Regional Center, a county facility that provides services to the
disabled.
Investigators reportedly believe
that Malik also expressed jihadist sympathies online before she was
approved for a US K-1 visa, but those messages were likely sent privately to a small group of friends in Pakistan, where authorities believe Malik was radicalized.
Though there isn’t clear
evidence pointing to ISIS ordering and coordinating the San Bernardino
shooting, it appears that Malik and Farook supported the terrorist group
and carried out the attack in its name. This underscores the danger of
terrorists who aren’t plugged into established networks and can
therefore fly under the radar and remain undetected by authorities.
