Massachusetts State Police took 11 people into custody on Saturday morning after an hours-long standoff with a group of heavily armed men shut down Interstate 95 in Wakefield, prompting shelter-in-place orders and disrupting the holiday weekend commute.
The suspects reportedly said they are part of an organization called “The Rise of The Moors.” This group describes itself as “Moorish Americans dedicated to educating new Moors and influencing our Elders.” According to the CBS News affiliate in Boston, they “claimed to be American nationals but not US citizens” and had “a Moroccan flag.”
The standoff ended around 10:15 a.m. with no injuries or shots fired. Police say all men surrendered without incident.
Two additional suspects were located in their vehicles, bringing the total number of those arrested to 11 (two initially on North Avenue and nine outside and inside the vehicles) https://t.co/YAXzKlW6Yl
— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) July 3, 2021
Authorities said it began around 2 a.m. when a trooper spotted two cars pulled over in the breakdown lane on I-95. Some of the men wore full military-style uniforms and were armed with long rifles and pistols. Mass State Police Col. Christopher Mason reportedly said they were traveling from Rhode Island to Maine for “training,” and the vehicles were packed with camping gear.
BREAKING: @MassStatePolice confirm the armed men posted multiple YouTube videos from “Rise of the Moors” account this morning. This is a portion of one of them.
Man in video says, “I reassured them [police] that we are trying to come to a peaceful resolution.”@boston25 pic.twitter.com/LMCOrmRkt9
— Julianne Lima (@JulianneLimaTV) July 3, 2021
“You can imagine 11 armed individuals standing with long guns slung on an interstate highway at 2 in the morning certainly raises concerns and is not consistent with the firearms laws that we have in Massachusetts,” Mason said.
The men did not provide identification and did not have firearm licenses.
“I attribute the successful resolution of this to both patience, professionalism, and partnership,” said Mason. “At the end of the day, we have the desired outcome, which is a safe resolution.”
Breaking: Police have 2 men in custody at the side of North Ave in Wakefield following a standoff which closed down 95 for hours. Armed group on the highway and in woods. Shelter in place still in effect for the area. #WCVB pic.twitter.com/GaDYukUQLL
— Josh Brogadir (@JoshBrogadirTV) July 3, 2021
The Associated Press reported:
The men refused to put down their weapons or comply with authorities’ orders, claiming to be from a group “that does not recognize our laws” before taking off into a wooded area, police said.
Police and prosecutors are working to determine what charges the members of the group will face.
The suspects were expected to appear in court in Woburn on Tuesday, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said.
Mason said the “self-professed leader” of the group wanted it to be known that they are not antigovernment.
“I think the investigation that follows from this interaction will provide us more insight into what their motivation, what their ideology is,” Mason said.
According to the AP, a video posted to social media on Saturday morning shows an unidentified man who “said he was from a group called Rise of the Moors broadcast from Interstate 95 in Wakefield near exit 57.”
The man in the video likened his group to a “militia,” claimed to be wearing a body camera, and said they had pulled over to refuel their vehicles. He said they had transported their own “gas tanks full of fuel” so their militant presence wouldn’t alarm people at gas stations.
“We are not anti-government. We are not anti-police, we are not sovereign citizens, we’re not Black identity extremists,” he said. “As specified multiple times to the police that we are abiding by the peaceful journey laws of the United States.”