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“The last time the economy grew at this rate was in 1984, and Ronald Reagan was telling us it’s morning in America,” Mr. Biden said. “Well, it’s getting close to afternoon here. The sun is coming out.”
Yet there is little confidence in either party that voters are about to swing behind Mr. Biden and his allies en masse, no matter how many events appear to align in his favor.
Democratic strategists see that as no fault of Mr. Biden’s, but merely the frustrating reality of political competition these days: The president — any president — might be able to chip away at voters’ skepticism of his party or their cynicism about Washington, but he cannot engineer a broad realignment in the public mood.
Mr. Mellman said the country’s political divide currently favored Mr. Biden and his party, with a small but stable majority of voters positively disposed toward the president. But even significant governing achievements — containing the coronavirus, passing a major infrastructure bill — may yield only minute adjustments in the electorate, he said.
“Getting a bipartisan bill passed, in the past, would have been a game changer,” Mr. Mellman said. “Will it be in this environment? I have my doubts.”
Russ Schriefer, a Republican strategist, offered an even blunter assessment of the chances for real movement in the electorate. He said that the receding of the pandemic had helped voters feel better about the direction the country is moving in — “the Covid reopening certainly helps with the right-track numbers” — but that he saw no evidence that it was changing the way they thought about their preferences between the parties.
After reading an engineer’s report on the Miami condo tower next door to his own, Bob Ross is worried.
Ross lives in Miami Bay Towers, across the marina from Palm Bay Towers, where the report, prepared in December, found “structural deficiencies” in the 26-story, 68-unit building, one of the only ones in the city built over the water.
It was the underwater portion that the engineering firm, The Falcon Group, pointed to as having several areas with concrete cracking and chipping, and rust spots. “Concrete deficiencies at the support columns, if not addressed in the near future, may affect the structural integrity of the building,” the report on Palm Bay Towers said.
Following the June 24 collapse of Champlain Towers South, a 12-story condo in the town of Surfside north of Miami, the concerns of the residents of Miami Bay Towers grew.
“Everybody is petrified, because as we’re looking at this monolith across the marina and if it came down, it would come down on us,” Ross said.
The marina which separates the buildings collapsed in 2019.
A recent engineering report declared Palm Bay Towers safe. But fears like Ross’ are running rampant throughout South Florida, as residents in and near older condo buildings worry about deferred maintenance and other problems that boards have often been reluctant to spend money on, for fear of raising maintenance fees or charging for special assessments.
A a recent report said Palm Bay Towers was structurally safe.Photo courtesy Thomas Marrazza
Miami Bay Towers resident Bob Ross is among those concerned about the building’s safety. Photo courtesy Thomas Marrazza
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava last week said the county would begin an audit of hundreds of older buildings to confirm they are safe, and asked cities and towns to step in where possible.
On Friday, the city of North Miami Beach ordered the evacuation of the 156-unit Crestview Towers, a condo about five miles from the Surfside collapse, after a review found unsafe conditions there.
Separately, 72 units in a central Florida condo built in 1990 were deemed unsafe after an engineering firm found some of the walkways leading to the condos were at risk of collapsing, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Search and rescue personnel work at the site Champlain Towers South.Miami Dade Fire Department via ReutersThere are still 121 people listed as missing from the Surfside collapse.Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Residents at the complex in Kissimmee, Florida, were advised to enter the buildings at their own risk.
“Probably everybody in South Florida has become aware of how they may be in the same position,” Ross said. “It’s scaring the hell out of us.”
Dueling protesters clashed outside a Koreatown spa Saturday over a recent incident involving transgender rights, prompting Los Angeles police in riot gear to be dispatched to the scene.
Police ordered the crowd to disperse after fights broke out between the two groups in front of Wi Spa in the 2700 block of Wilshire Boulevard about 1:45 p.m., according to police and videos posted on Twitter and other social media.
“Demonstrators have now cleared the scene,” Officer Mike Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department told City News Service. “Pretty much everyone complied with the order to leave.”
The demonstrations were apparently spurred by an incident that occurred last weekend at the spa. An irate customer posted a video on Instagram under the name Cubana Angel and it quickly went viral.
The woman in the video complains to staff at Wi Spa that a man had walked into the women’s section and showed his genitals to young girls, according to the video posted on the social media platform. The customer the woman complained about reportedly identified as a woman.
“He is a man,” the woman can be heard saying. “He is not a female. There are girls down there, other women who are highly offended by what they just saw and you did nothing. You sided with him.”
Wi Spa defended its policy in a statement to Los Angeles Magazine.
“Like many other metropolitan areas, Los Angeles contains a transgender population, some of whom enjoy visiting a spa,” the statement said. “Wi Spa strives to meet the needs of all its customers.”
Protesters opposed to the spa’s policy demonstrated in front of the building early Saturday but were met by counter-demonstrators holding a “No Bigotry in L.A.” rally. Members of each group then began fighting with each other and police were dispatched to the scene.
SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — Thousands of people showed up in support of former President Donald Trump Saturday evening at the Sarasota Fairgrounds.
Despite bouts of rain earlier in the evening, Trump held a “Save America” rally, which officially kicked off at 8:30 p.m.
WFLA Photo
WFLA Photo
WFLA Photo
WFLA Photo
Sarasota police had warned drivers that traffic delays were possible throughout the day.
Ringling Boulevard from South Tuttle Avenue to South Pompano Avenue were closed until the event was over.
One person who wasn’t in attendance, however, is Gov. Ron DeSantis, who focused on assisting rescue efforts in Surfside as well as monitor Tropical Storm Elsa.
The governor’s office sent the following statement to 8 On Your Side:
“We can confirm that the Governor will not attend the rally in Sarasota. He spoke with President Trump, who agreed that it was the right decision, because the Governor’s duty is to be in Surfside making sure the families and community have what they need in the aftermath of this tragedy. Governor DeSantis would have gone to the rally in normal circumstances. He is sure the rally will draw a big crowd on this holiday weekend, as many Floridians are excited to attend.”
Press Secretary Christina Pushaw
You can watch the former president’s fully rally in the video player above.
WAKEFIELD (CBS) — Eleven people were arrested and charged after their armed standoff with Massachusetts State Police shut down Interstate 95 in Wakefield.
The individuals, comprised of 10 men and one 17-year-old, claimed to be part of a group called “The Rise of The Moors – The Moorish American Arms.” The group says they are American nationals but not US citizens. They have a Moroccan flag, and, according to their website, are based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. They say their goal is “informing all Moors of their political status here” in the U.S.
Two people were arrested around 6:45 a.m. while State Police said there were “several armed persons accounted for at this scene” who were “refusing to comply with orders to provide their information and put down their weapons.” Seven others were arrested around 10:30 a.m., ending the standoff and two additional people were found in the cars as police swept the two cars involved.
According to State Police Colonel Christopher Mason, the surrender of seven came after State Police tightened their perimeter using BearCats. Three of the suspects were taken to area hospitals for examination after reporting medical issues related to pre-existing conditions.
The standoff stems from an incident hours earlier where a trooper stopped to help two cars pulled over in the breakdown lane. State Police said it appeared the two cars were refueling but the trooper noticed the group was wearing full military-style uniforms. Some people had long rifles, some had pistols, and some had both. The trooper asked for driver’s licenses and proper licensing for the guns, but the group did not provide either.
They told police they were headed from Rhode Island to Maine for training, according to State Police. As the trooper called for backup, several members of the group spread out into the nearby woods.
“At the end of the day we had the desired outcome with is a safe resolution, everybody on all sides of this equation go home safely, and the roadway is open,” said Mason.
As of late Saturday night, police say eight guns in total were seized.
The highway was closed in both directions Saturday morning but it reopened after the situation was settled.
MassDOT provided large trucks to help secure the scene.
23-year-old Wilfredo Hernandez (also known as Will Musa) of Bronx, N.Y.
27-year-old Alban El Curraugh of Bronx, N.Y.
29-year-old Aaron Lamont Johnson (also know as Tarrif Sharif Bey) of Detroit, Michigan
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. Among the charges for all 11 suspects are unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and conspiracy to commit a crime.
Hernandez, Johnson, one of the unnamed suspects, and the 17-year-old are also being charged with using a false name.
“Additional charges are possible if the ongoing investigation, including the expected search of the defendants’ two vehicles, determines they are warranted,” said the Middlesex DA Office and State Police in a joint statement last Saturday.
The 17-year-old is being released to his parents, while the remaining suspects will be held at Billerica House of Correction on $100,000 bail.
They are set to be arraigned next week in Malden District Court.
Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan and Mason applauded the patience and professionalism of the troopers involved.
Residents in Wakefield and Reading were told to shelter in place but the order was lifted after the situation was under control.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency for fifteen counties on Saturday in anticipation of Tropical Storm Elsa, which is predicted to hit the state in coming days.
Elsa on Friday became the first hurricane of the season, according to the National Hurricane Center, but has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. A hurricane warning remains in effect for parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where strong winds and heavy rain have already begun. The storm is predicted to impact the Cayman Islands and Cuba over the weekend before moving to the Florida Keys.
“There is an increasing risk of tropical storm conditions, storm surge and rainfall impacts beginning Monday in the Florida Keys and the southern Florida Peninsula, and a Tropical Storm Watch is now in effect for portions of the Florida Keys,” the National Hurricane Center said in a storm advisory.
DeSantis said Saturday in a press conference that Elsa’s strength could potentially increase when it moves over the Gulf of Mexico. Tropical storm watches have been issued for the middle and lower Florida Keys, with more expected to come for the state’s west coast, the governor said.
He advised residents to begin a disaster preparation plan, which includes stocking a disaster supply kit with at least a week’s worth of materials.
Miami-Dade County, already under a state of emergency due to the collapse of Champlain Towers South, is among the areas included within the tropical storm executive order. The collapse of the condo tower has killed at least 24 people while 121 people remain unaccounted for.
“Florida is working with local authorities to safely secure the Surfside site ahead of the storm,” DeSantis said on Twitter.
Search and rescue operations have been paused at the site as preparations to demolish what remains of the structure move forward.
Authorities in Florida have accelerated plans to demolish a partially collapsed 12-story condominium building in Surfside, amid concerns that winds from Tropical Storm Elsa could knock the remaining structure over as search-and-rescue teams pore through rubble in the hope of finding scores of residents who are still missing.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Saturday that experts are currently on site reviewing the structure and the contract has been signed to demolish what remains of Champlain Towers South as soon as possible.
“It is all of our fervent desire that this can be done safely before the storm so that we can direct the demolition,” Levine Cava said. “This demolition would be one that would protect and preserve evidence and allow maximum search-and-rescue activity to continue.”
The death toll from the fallen condo building has risen to 24 as of Saturday morning and 124 people are still missing. No one has been rescued since the first few hours after the collapse on June 24.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the building can be brought down within 36 hours once the final plan is in place. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said the demolition could occur as early as Sunday.
“The fear was that the hurricane might take the building down for us and take it down in the wrong direction on top of the pile where we have victims,” Burkett said, referring to Elsa which has been downgraded to a tropical storm.
Levine Cava signed a local state of emergency for Elsa on Saturday morning. “Out of an abundance of caution, we’re ensuring we’re mobilizing everything we need in the county to prepare for any possible impacts,” she said at the briefing.
The long-term forecast track shows Elsa heading toward Florida as a tropical storm by Tuesday morning, but some models would carry it into the Gulf or up the Atlantic Coast.
The accelerated plan comes a day after Levine Cava said the building would be demolished as soon as engineers signed off on next steps, a process that could likely take weeks. Officials have restricted access to parts of the building zone that threaten public health and safety.
However, Levine Cava said a demolition expert came forward Friday evening with the experience to move more quickly than originally anticipated. Engineers and state, local and federal authorities reviewed the plan and agreed it was the best path forward, Levine Cava said.
“This proposed demolition is a very narrow footprint so we’re not looking at major impacts to the area or additional evacuations,” Levine Cava said. “We are still in the due diligence process.”
The decision to demolish the portion of the building that’s still standing comes after search-and-rescue operations were halted most of Thursday out of concern that the remaining structure could fall.
The cause of the building collapse is still unknown. An engineering firm reviewed the condo tower in 2018, nearly three years before the collapse, and issued a report which found failed waterproofing below the building’s pool was causing “major structural damage.”
“Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,” the report said.
Levine Cava ordered a 30-day audit of buildings 40 years or older in Miami-Dade County which are five stories or taller and have not completed the re-certification process. The county is reviewing 14 such buildings and 10 that recently began recertification.
WAKEFIELD, Massachusetts — An hourslong standoff with a group of heavily armed men that partially shut down Interstate 95 ended Saturday with 11 suspects in custody, Massachusetts state police said.
Police initially reported nine suspects were taken into custody, but two more were taken into custody in their vehicle later Saturday morning.
Two suspects were hospitalized, but police said it was for preexisting conditions that had nothing to do with the standoff.
Mass State Police Col. Christopher Mason said the suspects surrendered after police tactical teams used armored vehicles to tighten the perimeter around them.
The standoff shut down a portion of I-95 for much of the morning, causing major traffic problems during the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Authorities said the interstate is now reopened and the shelter-in-place orders for Wakefield and Reading were lifted.
In Massachusetts, Interstate 95 runs from the Rhode Island line, around Boston to the New Hampshire line. Wakefield is just east of where Interstate 95 and 93 meet north of Boston.
The standoff began around 2 a.m. when police noticed two cars pulled over on I-95 with hazard lights on after they had apparently run out of fuel, authorities said at a Saturday press briefing.
At least some of the suspects were clad in military-style gear with long guns and pistols, Mason said. He added that they were headed to Maine from Rhode Island for “training.”
“You can imagine 11 armed individuals standing with long guns slung on an interstate highway at 2 in the morning certainly raises concerns and is not consistent with the firearms laws that we have in Massachusetts,” Mason said.
He said he understood the suspects, who did not have firearms licenses, have a different perspective on the law.
“I appreciate that perspective,” he said “I disagree with that perspective at the end of the day, but I recognize that it’s there.”
The men refused to put down their weapons or comply with authorities’ orders, claiming to be from a group “that does not recognize our laws” before taking off into a wooded area, police said.
Police and prosecutors are working to determine what charges the members of the group will face.
The suspects were expected to appear in court in Woburn on Tuesday, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said.
Mason said the “self-professed leader” of the group wanted it to be known that they are not antigovernment.
“I think the investigation that follows from this interaction will provide us more insight into what their motivation, what their ideology is,” Mason said.
In a video posted to social media Saturday morning, a man who did not give his name, but said he was from a group called Rise of the Moors, broadcast from Interstate 95 in Wakefield near exit 57.
“We are not antigovernment. We are not anti-police, we are not sovereign citizens, we’re not Black identity extremists,” said the man who appeared to be wearing military-style equipment. “As specified multiple times to the police that we are abiding by the peaceful journey laws of the United States.”
The website for the group says they are “Moorish Americans dedicated to educating new Moors and influencing our Elders.”
Mason said he had no knowledge of the group, but it was not unusual for the state police to encounter people who have “sovereign citizen ideology,” although he did not know if the people involved in the Wakefield standoff were a part of that.
Residents of a Miami-area high-rise loaded clothes and valuables into suitcases and laundry baskets and wheeled them to waiting cars after they were forced to evacuate a building found to be unsafe in a review prompted by a deadly collapse just a few miles away.
An audit prompted by the collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside found that the 156-unit Crestview Towers in North Miami Beach, about five miles away, was deemed structurally and electrically unsafe in January, the city said. The evacuation was ordered on Friday.
In the rubble of Champlain Towers South, the death toll rose on Saturday to 24.
At a briefing, Miami-Dade mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters two more bodies were found in the rubble as Friday passed into Saturday. The number of people who remain unaccounted for in the collapse was 124.
Previous discoveries in the rubble included the body of the seven-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter. Two bodies were recovered overnight Thursday, including the girl, and two more were found on Friday.
In North Miami Beach, authorities went door-to-door in the apartment building, telling residents they had to leave the 49-year-old structure.
Harold Dauphin was on his way home when he noticed a helicopter and a heightened police presence. He wondered if there had been a shooting but found his building being evacuated.
“They said the building is unsafe to live and it’s an immediate evacuation,” Dauphin said. He said he hadn’t heard anything about the problems the city mentioned. He grabbed what he could and left.
“It’s unfortunate, but I understand. Knowing what happened in Surfside, you know, it’s understandable,” he said.
It is the first building to be evacuated since officials in south Florida and statewide began scrutinizing older high-rises to ensure structural problems are not ignored.
In Surfside, though four more bodies were found, there was also relief. Closer inspection of the missing persons list reduced the number from 145 to 126 after duplicates were eliminated and some reported missing turned up safe.
“So this is very, very good news,” the Miami-Dade mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, said, adding that the numbers were expected to keep changing because detectives are continually reviewing the list and verifying reports.
The discovery of the girl’s remains was especially hard, Levine Cava said.
“It was truly different and more difficult for our first responders. These men and woman are paying an enormous human toll each and every day, and I ask that all of you please keep them in your thoughts and prayers,” she said.
The mayor said she signed an emergency order to demolish the remaining part of the building. Miami-Dade fire rescue assistant fire chief Ray Jadallah told family members during a Saturday morning briefing demolition could begin as soon as Sunday.
No one has been rescued since the first hours after the 24 June collapse. Authorities are preparing in case Hurricane Elsa – now in the eastern Caribbean – brings strong winds. Search efforts have stopped several times.
“We will try to go as long as we can, but you can see from different periods of inclement weather we’ve had, we have stopped,” the Miami-Dade fire chief, Alan Cominsky, said.
Additionally, one firefighter taskforce was demobilized after six members working at the site tested positive for Covid-19.
On Thursday, Joe Biden saluted the “resilience” of authorities and searchers, “their absolute commitment and willingness to do whatever it took to find the answer”.
“The families are realistic,” the president said. “They know that the chances are, as each day goes by, diminished slightly, but at a minimum they want to recover the bodies.
“They’re going through hell, those who survived the collapse, as well as those who are missing loved ones. The really hard part is not knowing whether they’re surviving or not, to have no idea.”
Joe Biden praises ‘amazing’ families at site of Miami condo collapse – video
Officials did not immediately release details about the structural problems that prompted the evacuation in North Miami Beach but Crestview Towers reported millions of dollars in damage from Hurricane Irma in 2017.
A letter posted less than two weeks ago on the community website said repairs were under way or expected to begin soon after delays. Plans included a new roof, replacing a generator and changing lighting.
“Last year has been a different year due to the pandemic and many things have been postponed for countless reasons, but this year we have started to work hard,” the letter said.
The condo association could not be reached for comment.
Darwin Reyes said he lived in the building during Hurricane Irma and a chunk of the balcony above his fell on his during the storm. He listed other complaints, including elevators that often didn’t work and pipes that didn’t drain well. He said he had been planning to move.
On Friday, Reyes woke from a nap. He checked his Instagram feed and saw a notice that said his building was being evacuated. He looked into the hallway and saw people with bags and suitcases. He and his wife packed what they could.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The two-decade war in Afghanistan has given U.S. spies a perch for keeping tabs on terrorist groups that might once again use the beleaguered nation to plan attacks against the U.S. homeland. But that will end soon.
The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan is leaving intelligence agencies scrambling for other ways to monitor and stop terrorists. They’ll have to depend more on technology and their allies in the Afghan government — even as it faces an increasingly uncertain future once U.S. and NATO forces depart.
“You may not be blind, but you’re going to be legally blind,” said Rep. Mike Waltz, a Florida Republican and Green Beret who served in Afghanistan. Waltz said in an interview that while he believed American forces would still be able to detect threats, they would have to respond with lesser intelligence and more complex operations from bases outside the country.
The Afghanistan withdrawal was ordered by President Joe Biden. He has said it’s time to end America’s longest war after two decades of a conflict that killed 2,200 U.S. troops and 38,000 Afghan civilians, with a cost as much as $1 trillion.
But that withdrawal comes with many uncertainties as a resurgent Taliban captures ground and fears mount that the country could soon fall into civil war. The U.S. is still working on agreements to base counterterrorism forces in the region and evacuate thousands of interpreters and other Afghans who helped the American war effort.
CIA Director William Burns testified in April that fighters from al-Qaida and the Islamic State group are still operating in Afghanistan and “remain intent on recovering the ability to attack U.S. targets.”
“When the time comes for the U.S. military to withdraw, the U.S. government’s ability to collect and act on threats will diminish. That’s simply a fact,” Burns said. He added that the CIA and other U.S. agencies “retain a suite of capabilities” to monitor and stop threats.
Burns made a secret visit to Afghanistan in April and reassured Afghan officials that the U.S. would remain engaged in counterterrorism efforts, according to two officials familiar with the visit.
The CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment for this story.
The CIA has had a role in Afghanistan for more than 30 years, dating back to aiding rebels fighting the Soviet Union from 1979 to 1989. During the U.S. war, it is said to have carried out strikes against terror targets and trained Afghan fighters in groups known as Counter Terrorism Pursuit Teams. Those teams are feared by many Afghans and have been implicated in extrajudicial killings of civilians.
The Associated Press reported in April that the CIA was preparing to turn over control of those teams in six provinces to the Afghan intelligence service, known as the National Directorate of Security. The closure of posts near Afghanistan’s borders with Iran and Pakistan will make it harder to monitor hostile groups operating in those areas, and the withdrawal of Americans from Afghan agencies could worsen already troubling problems with corruption, experts said.
Washington has long struggled to gather intelligence even from its allies in Afghanistan. In the early years of the conflict, the U.S. was drawn into rivalries that resulted in targets that were driven by score-settling among factions in the country.
Retired Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2017 to 2020, said U.S. authorities may be able to replace some of their lost footprint with intercepted communications as well as publicly available information posted online, particularly with the growth of cellphone networks compared with the 1990s. And while Afghan forces have faltered against the Taliban, they can also provide valuable information, Ashley said.
“We shouldn’t discount their ability to understand their ground truth,” said Ashley, now an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “It’s their nature, it’s their culture, it’s their language.”
Former intelligence officials and experts noted that the CIA and other agencies already have to work without a military presence in other countries where militant groups threaten Americans.
Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat and former Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan, said human sources in Afghanistan were already limited and the U.S. has monitoring capabilities today that it didn’t have two decades ago.
“It’s still going to be very robust,” Crow said. “When you don’t have boots on the ground, it’s certainly more challenging, but we have capabilities and things that allow us to meet that challenge. It just becomes a little more difficult.”
Crow and Waltz are among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who have pushed the White House to quickly process visas for thousands of interpreters and other Afghans who helped American forces. More than 18,000 applications are pending. Senior U.S. officials have said the administration plans to carry out an evacuation later this summer but has not settled on a country or countries for what would likely be a temporary relocation.
Failing to protect Afghans waiting for visas could have “a huge chilling effect on people working with us going forward,” Waltz said.
Analysts differ on what to expect from the Taliban if it were to consolidate control over the country. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence reported in May that the Taliban’s “desires for foreign aid and legitimacy might marginally moderate its conduct over time,” driven in part by international attention and the proliferation of phones.
But Colin Clarke, director of policy and research at the Soufan Group, said he expected the Taliban to continue harboring al-Qaida and worried of a possible insurgency that could embolden extremists and become a regional conflict similar to what happened in Iraq after the American withdrawal there.
“I want us to pull out of Afghanistan in theory and be safe,” he said. “That’s just not from my analysis what’s going to happen.”
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Associated Press writer Kathy Gannon in Kabul contributed to this report.
WAKEFIELD, Mass. — A group of heavily-armed men are engaged in an ongoing standoff Saturday with Massachusetts police, prompting shelter-in-place orders in some areas and sparking massive delays on the holiday weekend as a portion of Interstate 95 remains shut down.
The standoff began around 2 a.m. when police noticed two cars pulled over on I-95 with hazard lights on after they had apparently run out of fuel, authorities said at a Saturday press briefing.
Remaining suspects on highway have been taken into custody by MSP Special Tactical Operations Team. 7 additional suspects being transported for booking. We will now conduct sweeps of their 2 vehicles and woods. Total of 9 in custody counting the initial 2 arrests. https://t.co/eP2KkzZFpo
— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) July 3, 2021
Eleven men were clad in military-style gear with long guns and pistols, Mass State Police Col. Christopher Mason said. He added that they were headed to Maine from Rhode Island for “training.”
The men refused to put down their weapons or comply with authorities’ orders, claiming to be from a group “that does not recognize our laws,” police said. They took off into a wooded area, where two men were initially arrested.
The remaining men were taken into custody around 10:30 a.m.
Officials used negotiators to interact with the other suspects.
“Time is our ally in this and we will certainly utilize this,” Mason said.
Mason said the “self-professed leader” of the group wanted it to be known that they are not anti-government.
— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) July 3, 2021
“I think the investigation that follows from this interaction will provide us more insight into what their motivation, what their ideology is,” Mason said.
Mason said he had no knowledge of the group, but it was not unusual for the state police to encounter people who have “sovereign citizen ideology,” although he did not know if the people involved in the Wakefield standoff was a part of that.
“We train to those encounters,” Mason said. “We very much understand, I guess, the philosophy that underlies that mindset.”
The standoff shut down part of I-95 in Wakefield in both directions, prompting heavy traffic as people hit the road for the Fourth of July weekend.
In Massachusetts, Interstate 95 runs from the Rhode Island line, around Boston to the New Hampshire line. Wakefield is just east of where Interstate 95 and 93 meet north of Boston.
Residents in Wakefield and Reading near where the standoff is taking place have been asked to shelter in place.
Wakefield police said in its statement that no threats had been made but the men were considered armed and dangerous.
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