| Wakefield standoff | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| Belligerents | |||||
| Members of theRise of the Moors and others | Wakefield Police Department Massachusetts State Police | ||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
| 11 arrested | 0 | ||||
On July 3, 2021, a standoff occurred between individuals, some of whom are alleged to be members of a militia group calledRise of the Moors, some of whom were armed, and state and local police officers onInterstate 95 inWakefield, Massachusetts.[1][2][3] This incident began when an officer with the Massachusetts State Police responded to stopped vehicles and allegedly found several in the group carryinglong guns, side-arms, and wearing body armor. Police said the group claimed to be traveling from Rhode Island to Maine for training on privately owned land.[4][5][6] The standoff lasted several hours and resulted in eleven arrests, of ten adults and one child.[7][8][9]
Rise of the Moors is aNew England group whose members identify asMoorish Americans.[10][11] AnInstagram account connected to the group says its goal is to continue the work ofNoble Drew Ali, founder of theMoorish Science Temple of America.[12] According toThe Washington Post, the group is part of theMoorish sovereign-citizen movement, who claimimmunity from local, state and federal laws.[13] Similarly, theSouthern Poverty Law Center classifies the Rise of the Moors as an "anti-government group"[10] and identifies the Moorish sovereign-citizen movement with the broadersovereign-citizen movement.[11]
About two weeks after the standoff, some of those arrested filed a $70,000,000 civil rights and defamation lawsuit against media outlets, the Massachusetts State Police, some individual troopers involved in the standoff, the presiding arraignment judge, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for "violating the claimants civil, national and human rights."[14] The suit was dismissed as it would involve federal intervention in state court proceedings and that the allegations did not demonstrate any defamation.[15]
At arraignment, all of the adults arrested and charged entered pleas of "not guilty", although some later changed their plea to "guilty" as of mid-2024. Several of the adults allegedly changed their names to Moorish Science inspired names.[16] Many of the cases are still pending in Middlesex Superior Court as of mid-2024. Many of the individuals initially wererepresenting themselves, but were also provided an indigent lawyer, or privately retained a lawyer. As of mid-October 2022 all of the defendants have been released from pretrial detention.
They were found guily (June 17, 2024)[17] and on July 16, 2024, Jamhal Tavon Sanders Latimer was sentenced to three to five years in prison for his involvement in the standoff. Steven Anthony Perez was sentenced to just over a year. Both received an additional four years of probation.[18]
