The best friend of the California Terrorist checked himself into a mental health facility after the terror attack that killed 14 people. This calls into question just how much this friend knew about the bomb-making in the garage and guns he purchased for the terrorists. Is he in this facility because he’s protected from interrogation? In any case, this is another piece to the puzzle that’s yet to be explored.

Smiling broadly and posing in a bicycle helmet, this is the close friend accused of purchasing the guns that were used to mow down 14 innocent people in San Bernardino last Wednesday.

Baby-faced ‘nerd’ Enrique Marquez, 29, checked himself into a mental health facility in Long Beach, California on Wednesday afternoon – hours after close friend Syed Farook, 28, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, 29, opened fire on revelers at a work Christmas party.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, Marquez’s Riverside home was raided by the FBI, who allegedly arrived in search of explosives.
Police have said that the two handguns used in the mass shooting were purchased by his wife and fellow fanatic Malik.

But officials said the other two firearms, which are modified ‘assault-style’ weapons, had been purchased by an unidentified third party, which they believe to be Marquez, according to ABC News.
The guns were purchased three years ago, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Bespectacled Marquez is not thought to be a suspect in the shooting on Wednesday which killed 14 and injured 21.

Marquez, who has not been seen since Wednesday morning, was, like his friend Farook, described as ‘quiet’ and ‘very shy’ by Lorena Agurre who lives across the street from the home that he shares with his parents and two brothers.

‘He’s very shy but he would wave to me,’ she said. ‘He would smile but I would have to initiate conversation. He didn’t make small talk.’

He and Farook became a familiar sight on Tomlinson Avenue and, according to Agurre, bonded over their mutual love of cars.
‘He [Marquez] didn’t socialize much with the kids nearby. The only person I ever saw him with was Syed but I never spoke to them when they were together.
‘Syed was obsessive about cars,’ she continued. ‘He would be there tinkering with cars all the time and sometimes Enrique would be with him.’
Another neighbor told NBC that the two had been friends since childhood but had grown distant in recent months.
Marquez, who has no previous criminal record, was also described as a ‘nerd’ and a ‘weirdo’ by others who knew him, while locals spoken of him as someone who liked to keep himself to himself.

But for all that, they were left astonished when the FBI descended on quiet Tomlinson Avenue in the early hours of Saturday morning and entered the Marquez house.
‘I was woken up at about 1.30am and heard police saying, “residents of 3838, come out now with your hands up”,’ explained a neighbor who asked not to be named.
‘I saw two guys come out walking backwards with their hands on their heads. The police had them outside and asked if any explosives were inside the house.
‘They said no, so then I saw the police use a saw to break into the garage and put some sort of robot thing inside.
‘There were lots of FBI, lots of cops. They were there for a couple of hours – it was about 3.30am when they left, something like that.’

Read more: UK Daily Mail