Standoff With Heavily Armed Group On I-95 Ends With 11 Arrests

WAKEFIELD, MA — State Police arrested two additional suspects in the standoff that closed I-95 in Wakefield for more than eight hours Saturday morning.

Latest Developments: Police, DA Trying To Identify 11 Suspects In I-95 Standoff

The two additional suspects, who were found in their vehicles, brings the arrest total to 11. Around 10:30 a.m. Saturday police said the standoff was over after they arrested seven suspects, bring the total number of arrests to nine. State police have scheduled a media briefing for 11:15 a.m. Saturday.

State Police reopened the south side of the highway and lifted the shelter in place order just before 11 a.m. The north side of I-95 and North Avenue in Wakefield, they said, will remain closed "for a short while" as their investigation continues. But police arrested seven armed men who had occupied the highway for eight hours after two of their members were arrested earlier Saturday morning.

In a series of three videos posted on YouTube throughout the standoff, a Black speaker with the group and near one of the vehicles on the highway said the men were not U.S. citizens but "American nationals." They displayed a Moroccan flag in one video and yelled to police that their country, "whose flag is right here," has treaties with the U.S. government that prevented their arrest.

The man in the video also referred to Young v. Hawaii, which he claimed set a precedent that simply carrying a concealed weapon was not a crime. The appeals court decision in fact says the Second Amendment does not give people a right to carry a concealed weapon.

The same man, who did not identify himself, was the only on-camera speaker in all three videos, which ranged in length from under four minutes to more than 15 minutes. Throughout all three videos, the speaker stressed the group was not anti-government or anti-police and that they had no intention of using their weapons. The speaker insisted the group had committed no crime. On the final video, posted around 7:30 Saturday, he said the group wanted the issue to be resolved with police issuing summons but without arresting them.

The speakers do not identify the name of their group in any of the videos. Other media outlets have reported they call themselves "The Moorish American Arms" and "Rise of the Moors," which is the name of the YouTube account that streamed all three videos.

Standoff Started With Two Cars In Breakdown Lane

Earlier on Saturday, State Police Col. Christopher Mason told reporters the incident started around 1:30 Saturday morning when a state trooper noticed eight-to-10 men attempting to fuel their vehicles in the breakdown lane on I-95. The trooper noticed the men were in military-style uniforms and carrying rifles and handguns. Mason said the group said they came from Rhode Island and were heading to Maine for "training."

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 seven 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.

"We are hopeful that we will be able to revolve this peacefully with them," Mason said, adding that time is on authorities' side.

Mason said he is not aware of any specific demands the group has made.

In social media accounts uploaded from the scene, the men have said they are not anti-government, extremists or anti-police, but rather taking a law-abiding trip.

Mason said the self-professed leader of the group has also stressed to authorities are not anti-government. But police also said the men do not recognize U.S. laws.

"They identify as they identify," he said.