Former Boss Describes Enrique Marquez As Shy, Unsuspecting
RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) — Behind the doors of Morgan's Tavern in Riverside is a typical dive bar. That's where Enrique Marquez, who purchased the assault rifles used in the San Bernardino terror attack, worked for three years.
Owner Jerry Morgan described Marquez as a shy, quiet, unsuspecting, dorky and nice guy, who checked IDs and wiped down barstools.
"That Facebook picture explains him 101. That's him. He would give that face in here. People laughed. People had fun," Morgan said Marquez was anything but violent.
But the New York Times reports a regular at the bar used to overhear Marquez making remarks about local terror threats after he had a few drinks.
The customer said Marquez said things like: " 'There's so much going on. There's so many sleeper cells, so many people just waiting. When it happens, it's going to be big. Watch.' "
That same patron told the newspaper that he thought it was just bar talk at the time. But then he also heard Marquez saying that his marriage to the Russian sister of Syed Farook's older brother was a "sham marriage for immigration purposes" and that he was "paid between $5,000 and $10,000 to marry Mariya Chernykh."
Morgan said he was surprised to learn that Marquez was even married. "You would call him a loser on that front or someone who has not begun to achieve yet."
The tavern owner said he met with the FBI Monday and told agents everything he remembered about his interactions with Marquez.
On Friday, divers spent a second day at San Bernardino's Lake Seccombe, where they recovered several items in their search for cellphones or computer hard drives that Farook and his wife may have dumped on the day of the massacre.
The FBI expects the search to last for days. Federal agents are also working on pulling information out of the couple's other cellphones that were also encrypted, according to CBS News.
Investigators are also looking into a possible link between Farook and convicted jihadist recruiter Soheil Omar Kabir, who is now serving 25 years in prison for recruiting three San Bernardino area men to attack American troops in Afghanistan.
