Two individuals were recently sentenced for their involvement in an armed confrontation that took place on a busy Massachusetts highway in 2021, lasting over eight hours and causing significant traffic disruptions during the Fourth of July weekend. Jamhal Tavon Sanders Latimer received a three to five-year prison term with four years of probation, while Steven Anthony Perez was sentenced to over a year and a half in prison along with four years of probation. They were found guilty of multiple firearms charges associated with the standoff.
The incident unfolded when a group known as Rise of the Moors, claiming they were en route to Maine for training, encountered a state trooper offering assistance. This encounter led to a prolonged standoff on Interstate 95, as some group members fled into nearby woods. Authorities detained nearly a dozen individuals during the confrontation and seized a cache of weapons, including three AR-15 rifles, two pistols, a bolt-action rifle, a shotgun, and a short-barrel rifle. Notably, the individuals were outfitted in military-style clothing and body armor while carrying guns, despite lacking the necessary firearms licenses in the state.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Moorish sovereign citizen movement, an offshoot of the antigovernment sovereign citizens movement, comprises various autonomous entities and individuals that surfaced in the 1990s. Adherents of this movement uphold the belief that individual citizens are sovereign and not subject to federal or state governmental authority, often leading to confrontations with law enforcement agencies.
The Moorish sovereign citizen demographic primarily comprises African Americans, as reported by the SPLC.
