Update on Massachusetts Standoff: Two Suspects Refuse to ID Selves to Police, All Have Been Charged, Including Conspiracy to Commit a Crime
Two of the 11 men arrested following an hours-long standoff in Wakefield Saturday morning are refusing to give their names to authorities and will be arraigned as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 in Malden District Court next week.
Massachusetts State Police and the Middlesex District Attorney's office have identified the other nine suspects. Police seized three AR-15 rifles, two pistols a bolt action-rifle, a shotgun and a short barrel rifle from the two vehicles seized "so far" and are in the process of obtaining additional search warrants.
The men, none of whom have a license to carry, told police they were traveling from Rhode Island to Maine for "training" and that they adhere to "Moorish Sovereign Ideology."
In addition to the two men who have so far refused to identify themselves, police arrested:
Jamhal Tavon Sanders Latimer, also known as Jamhal Talib Abdullah Bey 29, of Providence, RI
Quinn Cumberlander, 40, of Pawtucket, RI
Robert Rodriguez, 21, of Bronx, NY
Wilfredo Hernandez, also known as Will Musa, 23, of Bronx, NY
Alban El Curraugh, 27, of Bronx, NY
Aaron Lamont Johnson, also known as Tarrif Sharif Bey, 29, of Detroit
Lamar Dow, 34, of Bronx, NY
Conrad Pierre, 29, of Baldwin, NY
a 17-year-old whose name was not released
All 11 were charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, use of body armor in commission of a crime, possession of a high capacity magazine, improper storage of firearms in a vehicle, and conspiracy to commit a crime. Four of the suspects are also charged with giving police a false name.
All of the men are being held on $100,000 bail except fro the 17-year-old, who was released to his parents.
The standoff started around 1:30 Saturday morning when a state trooper noticed the men fueling their vehicles in the breakdown lane on I-95. The trooper noticed the men were in military-style uniforms and carrying rifles and handguns. The men could not produce licenses to carry or drive, Mason said, and at some point, some went into the woods.
Two of the men were arrested while the remaining members barricaded themselves on the highway. Residents in the area of North Avenue, Parker Road and Ash Street in Wakefield and Reading were told to shelter in place, and businesses in the area were told to not open.
The standoff ended at 10:15 a.m. Saturday after a S.W.A.T. team tightened the perimeter surrounding the remaining suspects. The nine suspects arrested around 10:15 surrendered peacefully. Seven were arrested near their cars on the highway, while two others were arrested on North Avenue in Wakefield.
During the standoff, one of the group members posted three videos to a YouTube Channel for a group called Rise of the Moors. According to The Washington Post, the Rise of the Moors is based in Pawtucket and one of 25 active anti-government sovereign-citizen groups identified in 2020 by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Anti-Defamation League in 2016 said the Moorish sovereign citizen movement began when people melded sovereign citizen beliefs with some of the beliefs of the Moorish Science Temple, a religious sect dating to 1913.
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