San Bernardino shooter spent years immersed in fanaticism

A 36 page affidavit filled out by an FBI agent reveals some information into the San Bernardino shooting that took place on Dec. 2, 2015, when the terrorist actions of Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife claimed the lives of 14 civilians and left others badly injured. The neighbor of the offenders, Enrique Marquez, had a criminal complaint filed against him for his extreme association in the matter.

A lot of information pertaining to Farook’s background and his influences was gathered by the FBI after series of interviews with the 24-year-old Marquez.

This document paints a picture of Farook as a man who was an extreme fanatic and has spent many years in this fanaticism through online accessibility. The document also claimed that Farook’s plotting began four years ago. Even before the San Bernardino shootings, he predated contact with his future wife, Tashfeen Malik, and a formal declaration of the Islamic state. Farook apparently had plans of travelling to join a terrorist group along with Marquez, where they could successfully carry out terrorist attacks.

The majority of the affidavit shows the level of plans and preparations made by Farook and Marquez to carry out attacks as early as 2012. According to the authorities, both men took their time scouting out locations and ended up picking a community college both had previously attended and a busy state road as their targets. Both men took things further by visiting a shooting range for target practice, bought firearms, and purchased materials for explosives.

Farook was born to Pakistani parents as a Chicago-born citizen, and has been referred to as a happy, quiet, and deeply religious man in whom no one saw any sign of danger. However, according to the affidavit, Marquez stated that Farook had been feeding him with extremist ideas for years. Both men became neighbors a decade ago, and shortly after contact in2007, Farook succeeded in converting Marquez to Islam.

Farook is described in the affidavit as the force that pulled Marquez towards volatile extremism. Marquez pointed out that Farook had talked about his intentions in joining the al-Qaeda group situated in the Arabian Peninsula, which has been designated a terrorist group by the United States.

Farook introduced Marquez to the lectures of Anwar al-Awlaki (a U.S. born imam who inspired various terrorist attacks and was killed in a drone strike in 2011). Marquez said in 2011 he spent the majority of his time at Farook’s house, where he consumed a large amount of extremist thoughts, watching videos produced by al-Shabab, a group associated with al-Qaeda alongside Farook, and read al-Qaeda’s English language magazine: Inspire.

Marquez and Farook discussed how to make use of guns that same year in order to carry out attacks “designed to maximize the number of casualties that could be inflicted.” Farook and Marquez, however, never made an attempt at carrying out these earlier plans. Marquez claims he distanced himself from Farook after an investigation was made confronting terrorism in Riverside which ended up arresting four local men in November 2012. San Bernardino