11 heavily armed men were arrested on their way to Maine after a confrontation with MAS police on I-95

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Wakefield, Massachusetts – An hours-long standoff with a group of heavily armed men that partially closed Interstate 95 ended Saturday with 11 suspects in custody, Massachusetts State Police said.

Police initially reported that nine suspects were arrested, but two more were detained in their car later on Saturday morning.

Two of the suspects were taken to hospital, but police said it was due to previous circumstances unrelated to the confrontation.

State Police Colonel Christopher Mason said the suspects surrendered after police tactical teams used armored vehicles to clamp down on them.

The showdown closed part of I-95 for most of the morning, causing major traffic problems over the Fourth of July weekend. Authorities said the highway has now reopened and shelter-in-place orders at Wakefield and Reading have been lifted.

In Massachusetts, Interstate 95 runs from the Rhode Island line, turning Boston to the New Hampshire line. Wakefield is located to the east of where Interstate 95 and 93 meet north of Boston.

The confrontation began around 2 a.m. when police noticed two cars parked on I-95 with their hazard lights on after apparently running out of fuel, authorities said at a news briefing Saturday.

Mason said at least some of the suspects were wearing military fatigues, long rifles and pistols. He added that they were headed to Maine from Rhode Island to “train.”

“You can imagine 11 individuals armed with long, dangling rifles standing on an interstate highway at 2 a.m. which is certainly worrisome and is not in accordance with the firearms laws we have in Massachusetts,” Mason said.

He said he understands that the suspects, who do not have firearms licenses, have a different view of the law.

“I appreciate that perspective,” he said, “I don’t agree with that perspective at the end of the day, but I know it exists.”

Police said the men refused to lay down their weapons or comply with authorities’ orders, claiming they were from a group “that does not recognize our laws” before taking off to a wooded area.

Police and prosecutors are working to determine the charges that group members will face.

Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said the suspects are expected to appear in court in Woburn on Tuesday.

Mason said the group’s “avowed leader” wanted to know they were not anti-government.

“I think the investigation that follows this interaction will give us more knowledge about their motives, and what their ideology is,” Mason said.

In a video posted on social media Saturday morning, a man who did not name but said it was from a group called Rise of the Moors, broadcast from Interstate 95 in Wakefield near Exit 57.

“We are not anti-government. We are not against the police, we are not sovereign citizens, and we are not black extremists,” said the man, who appeared to be wearing military equipment. “It has also been determined several times to the police that we comply with the peaceful travel laws of the United States.”

The group’s website says they are “Americans of Maghreb descent dedicated to educating new Moroccans and influencing our sheikhs.”

Mason said he had no knowledge of the group, but that it was not unusual for state police to meet people with a “sovereign citizen ideology,” though he doesn’t know if the people involved in the Wakefield confrontation were part of that.

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