A Massachusetts police chief said officers used a sonic boom to disable Rise of the Moors suspects, helping authorities apprehend 11 armed men on Interstate 95 during an hours-long standoff on July 3.
The group of armed individuals, who identify as Moorish Americans and collectively as Rise of the Moors, were refueling gas tanks at 1.30am with their own fuel and told law enforcement that they were traveling from Rhode Island to Maine for 'training.'
When police asked them to drop their weapons, they refused, resulting in an 11-hour stand-off.
Wakefield Police Chief Steven Skory told a local town council meeting that officers deployed a high pitch alarm is known as an LRAD, which Skory describes as an 'audible alarm that basically disables someone temporarily' during the stand-off, finally bringing it to an end.
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Wakefield Police Chief Steven Skory told a local town council meeting that officers deployed a high pitch alarm is known as an LRAD, which Skory describes as an 'audible alarm that basically disables someone temporarily' during the stand-off, finally bringing it to an end
A Massachusetts police chief said officers used a sonic boom to disable Rise of the Moors suspects, helping authorities apprehend 11 armed men on Interstate 95 during an hours -long standoff on July 3 (pictured is footage from police body cam)
A Massachusetts State Police trooper saw two cars with their hazard lights on parked on the shoulder of Interstate-95, near the town of Wakefield, around 1:30 a.m. The group of heavily armed men were refilling gas tanks with their own fuel and told law enforcement that they were headed to Maine for 'training'
Jahmal Latimer also known as 'Talib Abdulla Bey' cofounded the militia group which claims to be a non-profit educational group based out of Rhode Island. He identifies himself on the group webpage as the chief of the 'Rhode Island State Republic and Providence Plantations'
According to Skory, when the trooper asked members of the group to produce licenses for the firearms, members of the group indicated they weren't licensed or didn't have copies of licenses on them.
They then took up the 'sovereign attitude that they did not have to adhere by our laws,' Skory said.
According to the group's website, Rise of the Moors is based in Pawtucket, Rhoe Island and is one of 25 active anti-governmental sovereign-citizen groups identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2020.
While the group's Facebook page has 1,100 followers and a YouTube channel with 17,000 subscribers, the total number of members is unknown.
Bodycam footage taken by a cop at the scene shows what led up to the standoff.
It begins with a cop pointing a flashlight at the cars as the group's purported leader Jamhal Tavon Sanders Latimer, 29, also known as Jamhal Talib Abdullah Bey, approaches him.
Militia leader Jamhal Tavon Sanders Latimer, 29, also known as Jamhal Talib Abdullah Bey, told the judge: 'I don't understand how these charges can be brought against me'
Jamhal Talib Abdullah Bey (pictured in the center wearing a turban) poses with fellow members of the Rise of the Moors group in January 2021
The cop questions what the group are doing and Latimer, a former U.S. Marine, says, 'We're a local militia from Rhode Island. We're going to Maine. We weren't going to be make unnecessary stops. We have fuel in our truck so we can gas up here so that way we could just keep going through.'
The cop asks if they have their licenses and they all say 'No, we don't have licenses.' They again say no when asked if they have any forms of identification.
Asked what they were planning, Latimer says, 'I have private land in Maine so we're going up to do some training there.'
Latimer agrees to give him personal information and the cop asks for his name, birthday and social security number.
'I don't have a social,' he says and the cop asks, 'Were you born in the United States?'
Skory told the council that the trooper informed the men, who were dressed in tactical gear and armed with long rifles and handguns, they would likely be arrested.
Eight individuals then retreated into the woods and the regional SWAT team was called in, Skory said.
Two suspects returned from the woods and were arrested and the perimeter was secured.
When the additional six suspects returned from the woods, police attempted to take them into custody, Skory said.
In addition to Latimer, those arrested were Robert Rodriguez, 21, Wilfredo Hernandez, 23, Alban El Curraugh, 27, Aaron Lamont Johnson, 29, Quinn Cumberlander, 40, Lamar Dow, 34, and Conrad Pierre, 29, of Baldwin, New York.
Following the arrests, police then coordinated with the town's Department of Public Works to position dump trucks complete with plows on the highway to discourage suspects from attempting to flee, Skory told the council.
There were no injuries to any officers or suspects, he added.
Some of the men were arraigned Tuesday and face several charges, including unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and the use of body armor in commission of a crime, in connection with the July 3 standoff.
At the arraignment, Latimer told the judge: 'I don't understand how these charges can be brought against me.'
A month before his arrest, Latimer was seen bragging about his firearm arsenal on YouTube.
Latimer and the Rise of the Moors have a large social media presence, with more than 16,000 subscribers to the group's YouTube channel, in which the leader posts videos showing off firearms and discussing 'the constitution.'
In June, a New Jersey homeowner got more than she bargained for when a group of Rise of the Moors men broke into her
