MALDEN, MASS. (WHDH) - 6 of the men charged in connection with an armed standoff along a Massachusetts highway last weekend were ordered held without bond during a dangerousness hearing at Malden District Court on Friday, officials said.
This ruling comes after prosecutors played bodycam footage from the July 3 hourslong standoff during Friday’s hearing. The footage reportedly shows the initial interaction between the leader of the Rise of the Moors group and the trooper, during which the trooper asked the group to provide firearms licenses and drivers licenses.
“No, no licenses,” the group’s alleged leader can be heard saying in the video. “There’s laws that specify that as long as you’re not making unnecessary stops in the state you can travel with your arms.”
Openly carrying licensed or unlicensed firearms, whether loaded or unloaded, on a public way such as Route 95 is illegal in Massachusetts, according to Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason.
Ten defendants, five at a time, were brought up for the dangerousness hearing on Friday. Three of the members asked the judge for more time, and the rest of the group will go before a judge next week.
One member is still refusing to identify himself.
Police arrested 11 members of the Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based Rise of the Moors after seeing them on I-95 in Wakefield carrying numerous guns, and they are facing charges of having unlicensed firearms in Massachusetts. Members said they were traveling to a training site in Maine, police said.
State police say they recovered three AR-15 rifles, two pistols, a bolt-action rifle, a shotgun and a short-barrel rifle from the men.
The group claims to represent Black people on every continent and they do not believe in the power of the U.S. government, although some supporters said the group had a constitutional right to bear arms. A group member protesting outside of Malden District Court at an earlier hearing on Tuesday said the organization does not mean any harm.
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