None of group arrested in Mass. armed standoff have gun licenses

Leader of the group Jahmal Tavon Sanders Latimer while streaming on YouTube during the standoff. (YouTube screen capture)

BOSTON - State Police on Sunday identified the 11 suspects arrested in an armed standoff on Interstate 95 in Wakefield on Saturday.

The standoff, which began around 1:30 a.m. and lasted nine hours, ended through negotiation as a tightening perimeter of heavy armored police vehicles closed in on the two suspect vehicles.

Police soon learned that the men referred to themselves as a militia and claimed to be part of a group called "The Rise of The Moors," what they describe as a sovereign group that follows federal but not state laws.

The group said it was traveling from Rhode Island to Maine to conduct "training," on private land, but did not specify where in Maine.

None of the men who were dressed in military fatigues and body armor and were armed with long guns and pistols has a license to carry firearms, police said.

Those arrested are:

• 29-year-old Jahmal Tavon Sanders Latimer (also known as Jahmal Talib Abdullay Bey) of Providence, R.I.

• 27-year-old Alban El Curraugh of Bronx, N.Y.

• 29-year-old Aaron Lamont Johnson (also known as Tarrif Sharif Bey) of Detroit, Michigan

• 21-year-old Robert Rodriguez of Bronx, N.Y.

• 23-year-old Wilfredo Hernandez (also known as Will Musa) of Bronx, N.Y.

• 40-year-old Quinn Cumberlander of Pawtucket, R.I.

• 34-year-old Lamar Dow of Bronx, N.Y.

• 29-year-old Conrad Pierre of Baldwin, N.Y.

One of the suspects is 17 years old and two others refused to identify themselves.

Each of the 11 suspects is charged with:

• 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.

Hernandez, Johnson, Dow and the juvenile are charged with furnishing a false name to police.

State Police and Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said more charges are possible following a search of the defendants' two vehicles.

So far, police have recovered eight weapons: three AR-15 rifles, two pistols, a bolt-action rifle, a shotgun, and a short-barrel rifle.

The 17-year-old is to be released to parental custody, while the other 10 are expected to remain held at Billerica House of Corrections on $100,000 cash bail. They are set to be arraigned on Tuesday in Malden District Court.

Maine Dept. of Safety officials have not commented on where the group's "training" property might be located.