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WAKEFIELD, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Eleven people are set to appear in court this week following an armed standoff with Massachusetts State Police in Wakefield on Saturday.
Police said it happened on Interstate-95 at around 1:30 a.m. when a trooper stopped to help two cars pulled over in the breakdown lane on the highway.
The officer then discovered a group of people dressed in military gear and uniforms who refused to provide any forms of identification.
The roadway was shut down in both directions for several hours as the group continued to refuse to comply with officer's orders to drop their weapons and identify themselves.
Massachusetts State Police confirmed that the group -- including 10 men and one 17-year-old-- refer to themselves as a militia and state that adhere to “Moorish Sovereign Ideology.”
They claimed that they were traveling from Rhode Island to Maine for "training." None of them had a license to carry firearms.
"This is a reminder as we and all of our friends [on July 4 weekend] of the kind of situations that troopers may face in the middle of the night on the highway," Middlesex DA Marian Ryan said on Saturday.
Two suspects were arrested around 6:45 a.m. and seven others were arrested around 10:30 a.m. Two more people were also arrested after police found them inside the two cars involved.
The suspects have been identified as the following:
- 29-year-old Jahmal Tavon Sanders Latimer (also known as Jahmal Talib Abdullay Bey) of Providence, Rhode Island
- 21-year-old Robert Rodriguez of Bronx, New York
- 23-year-old Wilfredo Hernandez (also known as Will Musa) of Bronx, New York
- 27-year-old Alban El Curraugh of Bronx, New York
- 29-year-old Aaron Lamont Johnson (also know as Tarrif Sharif Bey) of Detroit, Michigan
- 40-year-old Quinn Cumberlander of Pawtucket, Rhode Island
- 34-year-old Lamar Dow of Bronx, New York
- 29-year-old Conrad Pierre of Baldwin, New York
The identity of the 17-year-old is not being released, and two others refused to identify themselves.
"They [to] be allowed to leave the area, transit the area without any accountability, and at the end of the day we could not accommodate that," State Police Col. Christopher Mason said on Saturday.
Charges for all eleven suspects include unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and conspiracy to commit a crime.
The 17-year-old is being released to his parents, while the remaining suspects will be held on $100,000 bail. They are set to be arraigned on Tuesday in Malden District Court.
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