11 people in custody after armed standoff with police
Officials say the group ‘does not recognize our laws’
WAKEFIELD, Mass. — An hourslong standoff with a group of heavily armed men that partially shut down Interstate 95 ended Saturday with 11 suspects in custody, Massachusetts state police said.
Police initially reported nine suspects were taken into custody, but two more were taken into custody in their vehicle later Saturday morning.
Two suspects were hospitalized, but police said it was for preexisting conditions that had nothing to do with the standoff.
Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason said the suspects surrendered after police tactical teams used armored vehicles to tighten the perimeter around them.
The standoff shut down a portion of I-95 for much of the morning, causing major traffic problems during the holiday weekend. Authorities said the interstate is now reopened and the shelter-in-place orders for Wakefield and Reading were lifted.
In Massachusetts, Interstate 95 runs from the Rhode Island line, around Boston to the New Hampshire line. Wakefield is just east of where Interstate 95 and 93 meet north of Boston.
The standoff began around 2 a.m. when police noticed two cars pulled over on I-95 after they had apparently run out of fuel, authorities said Saturday.
Some of the suspects were clad in military-style gear with long guns and pistols, Mason said. He added that they were headed to Maine from Rhode Island for “training.”
“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.
He said he understood the suspects, who did not have firearms licenses, have a different perspective on the law.
““I disagree with that perspective at the end of the day,” he said, “but I recognize that it’s there.”
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 group will face.
The suspects were expected to appear in court in Woburn on Tuesday, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said.
In a video posted to social media Saturday morning, a man who did not give his name, but said he was from a group called Rise of the Moors, made a statement.
“We are not anti-government. We are not antipolice, we are not sovereign citizens, we’re not Black identity extremists,” said the man who appeared to be wearing military-style equipment. “As specified multiple times to the police that we are abiding by the peaceful journey laws of the United States.”