On a spring evening in 1985, Philadelphia police made history by becoming the only major American police department in the modern era to drop a bomb on residents from a helicopter. Police targeted a single row house at 6221 Osage Avenue, home to members of MOVE—a Black liberation organization the city had been trying to eliminate for years. Inside were thirteen people, including five children.

By morning, eleven lay dead and sixty-one homes lay in ruins. An [official commission would later call the bombing “unconscionable.“] A [federal jury would find the city liable] for constitutional violations. But in forty years, not a single official has faced criminal charges. This is the documented history of what happened, who was responsible, and why they got away with it.

What Happened: May 13, 1985

The operation began at dawn. Philadelphia Police evacuated neighboring homes and established a perimeter around the MOVE house, a fortified row house where members had been living communally since 1981. Police held arrest warrants for several MOVE members on charges including parole violations and illegal weapons possession. At 5:30 AM, police demanded MOVE members exit the house. However, they refused. What followed was an hours-long assault.

Specifically, police fired more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition into the house. Additionally, they deployed water cannons, flooding the structure. MOVE members returned fire sporadically but remained inside. By late afternoon, Police Commissioner Gregore J. Sambor and Fire Commissioner William Richmond had authorized a plan to “blow the bunker off the roof”—a wooden fortification MOVE had built atop the house. At 5:27 PM, Detective William Klein piloted a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter over the house and dropped an improvised explosive device containing C-4 plastic explosive and Tovex onto the roof. The blast destroyed the bunker and ignited fuel stored there.

Fire erupted immediately. Then came the decision that turned a police operation into a mass casualty event: [officials ordered firefighters to stand down] and “let the fire burn.” For approximately 45 minutes, firefighters—already positioned with equipment ready—received orders to wait. Officials stated their reason: let the fire destroy the fortification completely. Both Fire Commissioner Richmond and Police Commissioner Sambor later claimed they made the decision mutually, to “finish the job.” By the time firefighters finally received permission to engage at approximately 6:15 PM, the fire had already spread to adjacent row houses. Meanwhile, wind was carrying embers down the block. Water pressure problems compounded the crisis.

The fire burned through the night. When firefighters finally extinguished it, two city blocks of working-class and middle-class homes—sixty-one properties in total—had been destroyed. Approximately 250 people, nearly all Black homeowners, lost their homes. Recovery teams found eleven bodies inside the MOVE house. Five were children.

The Dead

The Philadelphia Medical Examiner recovered eleven bodies from the ruins of 6221 Osage Avenue. Their names deserve to be remembered:

The Children:

• – Katricia “Tree” Dotson Africa, 14
• – Delisha Orr Africa, 13
• – Netta Africa, 12
• – Little Phil Africa, 13
• – Tomaso Africa, 9

The Adults:

• – John Africa (Vincent Leaphart), 50 – founder of MOVE
• – Rhonda Harris Africa, 29
• – Theresa Brooks Africa, 25
• – Frank James Africa, 25
• – Conrad Hampton Africa, 26
• – Raymond Foster Africa, 32

Two people survived. First, Ramona Africa, an adult MOVE member, escaped arrest as she fled the burning house. Second, Michael Moses Ward—known as Birdie Africa; was thirteen years old when he escaped the flames. Tragically, he would die in 2013 at age 41, with friends citing health issues and trauma related to the bombing. The children’s presence was not unknown to city officials. Importantly, multiple sources confirm that police, fire, and city leadership knew children were inside the house before they dropped the bomb. Despite this knowledge, officials did not alter their plans.