San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook’s brother Syed Raheel Farook has been arrested along with wife Tatiana Farook and her sister Mariya Chernykh. U.S. prosecutors told Reuters and the Los Angeles Times the three were arrested on Thursday, April 28, on marriage fraud charges and for lying to federal investigators.
Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were killed in a shootout with law enforcement after the couple killed 14 people in a mass shooting at a holiday party in December 2015 at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, at which the 28-year-old health inspector was an attendee.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Syed Rizwan’s brother Syed Raheel, 31, Tatiana, also 31, and her 26-year-old sister have been “charged in a five-count indictment filed in federal court alleging that Chernykh entered into a fraudulent marriage with Enrique Marquez Jr., who has been accused of providing weapons used in the deadly December 2 attack.”
Marquez Jr. is accused of having purchased the two assault rifles that were used to carry out the shooting. He’s also accused of having conspired with Syed Rizwan, his childhood friend, in 2011 and 2012 to commit crimes of terrorism that were not carried out.
As previously reported, Syed Rizwan didn’t think he’d pass the background check to purchase the weapons himself.
According to Reuters, an investigation found that Marquez Jr. agreed to marry Chernykh so that she could obtain a visa. Authorities allege that Sayed Raheel, who is a U.S. Navy veteran, and his wife participated in their conspiracy by staging wedding photos, and also helped Marquez Jr. and Chernykh open a joint bank account, and, according to the Los Angeles Times, forge leases.
