Police officers in Massachusetts have reported that they arrested 11 people over the Fourth of July weekend after engaging in an hours-long standoff with armed suspects. The standoff stopped the flow of traffic and shut down sections of Interstate 95.
In a joint ongoing investigation by Massachusetts State
Police detectives who are assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, the State Police Crime Scene Services Section and State Police Troop A reported that 11 men had been arrested in Wakefield on the day of the incident.According to authorities, the men referred to themselves as a
militia and had stated that they adhere to “Moorish Sovereign Ideology.” The men were traveling from Rhode Island to Maine to conduct “training.” They have also stated that none of the men, who were dressed in military fatigues and body armor while carrying long guns and pistols, has a license to carry the weapons they possessed. Troopers have recovered eight firearms thus far: three AR-15 rifles; two pistols; a bolt-action rifle; a shotgun; and a short barrel rifle.The suspects who are from New York, Rhode Island, and Michigan (although two of the suspects have refused to give their names) are each being charged with the following offenses: unlawful possession of a firearm, eight counts; 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.