Who is Jamhal Latimer? Ex-Marine and head of Rise of the Moors is known as 'Grand Sheikh'
After reportedly refusing to obey police instructions and fleeing into the woods with firearms, a group of armed men known as the Rise of the Moors blocked down a roadway outside of Boston for more than nine hours on the morning of Saturday, July 3.
On Friday night, July 2, Massachusetts police engaged in a standoff with several members of the armed gang that lasted into Saturday morning, forcing the closing of a portion of Interstate 95 overnight and the issuance of a shelter-in-place order for sections of Wakefield and Reading.
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Around 1.30 am, a trooper saw two cars in the breakdown lane, trying to refuel a vehicle, and stopped to offer help, according to Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason. When the trooper noticed the group of eight to ten individuals was dressed in military gear and equipped with rifles and pistols, he demanded their identification and called backup.
Hostage negotiators were sent in to negotiate with the men, and police reported 11 people had been taken into custody at about 10.15 am. Earlier in the day, two people were detained, and nine more were arrested late in the morning. Early last year, Latimer was detained for impeding an officer, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest by Rhode Island State Police.
“I’ve expressed to you multiple times we are not anti-government.”
— Anaridis Rodriguez (@Anaridis) July 3, 2021
An armed uniformed man speaking with MSP negotiators in the middle of a standoff on 95 as it’s being live streamed on an IG account for the Moorish Constitutional Convention Committee. @wbz https://t.co/swiYDUFnIT pic.twitter.com/2oKJqrGg5G
Who is the leader of Rise of the Moors?
According to I-Team sources as reported by the Boston CBS, Jamhal Latimer, also known as Talib Abdulla Bey, was arrested along with 10 other armed men following the standoff on Saturday. He is a self-declared leader, or 'Grand Sheikh' of the Rise Of The Moors. Latimer is listed as the organization's Moorish American Consular Post Head on the group's website as well. He previously served in the United States Marine Corps, according to his biography. In a YouTube video uploaded last month and obtained by CBS Local, he was shown racking a gun and bragging that he had three, the news outlet revealed. "The investigation of the Rise of the Moors organization - I guess you didn't see the first video," he said to the camera while brandishing the weapon, and smiling as he said: "We have three guns."
Latimer, who told officers he was "not anti-government" during Saturday's incident, and the other ten suspects are accused of illegally possessing a handgun, ammunition, wearing body armour while committing a crime, possessing a high-capacity magazine, and inappropriate firearm storage in a vehicle.
According to the outlet's sources, Latimer is the founder of the Rise of the Moors and the organization's Moorish American Consular Post Head. He also claims to be the great chief of the area known as Rhode Island, and that he and his followers are American nationals rather than citizens. The gang, which is wearing the Moroccan flag, informed authorities they were heading to a training camp in Maine.