2 men sentenced in 2021 armed standoff on Massachusetts highway
Two men have been sentenced for their role in an armed standoff on a busy Massachusetts highway in 2021 that lasted more than eight hours and caused traffic delays during a busy Fourth of July weekend
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Two men have been sentenced for their role in an armed standoff on a busy Massachusetts highway in 2021 that lasted more than eight hours and caused traffic delays during a busy Fourth of July weekend.
Jamhal Tavon Sanders Latimer was sentenced Tuesday in Middlesex Superior Court to three to five years in prison with four years of probation. Steven Anthony Perez was sentenced to just over a year and half behind bars and four years of probation. They were convicted of multiple gun charges last month related to the standoff.
The two were part of a group called Rise of the Moors and claimed they were headed to Maine for training when a state trooper stopped to ask if they needed help, authorities said. That sparked the long standoff on Interstate 95 after some members of the group ran into the woods next to the highway.
Nearly a dozen people were arrested and state police said they recovered three AR-15 rifles, two pistols, a bolt-action rifle, a shotgun and a short-barrel rifle. The men, who were dressed in fatigues and body armor and were armed with long guns and pistols, did not have licenses to carry firearms in the state.
The Southern Poverty Law Center says the Moorish sovereign citizen movement is a collection of independent organizations and individuals that emerged in the 1990s as an offshoot of the antigovernment sovereign citizens movement. People in the movement believe individual citizens hold sovereignty over and are independent of the authority of federal and state governments. They have frequently clashed with state and federal authorities over their refusal to obey laws.
The vast majority of Moorish sovereign citizens are African American, according to the SPLC.