Massachusetts police have issued an urgent shelter-in-place warning for residents in two towns near Boston after eight heavily armed men fled into woodland during a traffic stop.
A state trooper spotted the men pulled over by the side of Interstate 95 between the towns of Wakefield and Reading at 1.30 on Saturday morning, and asked them for identification.
The group were dressed in tactical-style gear and armed with both pistols and rifles.
They refused to comply with orders to drop their weapons and subsequently ran into the woodland by the side of the road.
The I-95 was subsequently closed down as officers from both the Massachusetts State Police and Wakefield Police Department scoured the area in search of the men.
Two of the men were subsequently captured and arrested, but six of them remain at large.
Wakefield Police have issued a statement saying the men are ‘dangerous’ and ‘do not recognize US law’.
They are urging residents of Wakefield and Reading to ‘lock their doors and remain inside their homes’ as their hunt continues.
The towns are located just 15 miles from downtown Boston, but police have not stated that city residents are under threat.