In 1972, John Africa founded a black liberation group in west Philadelphia called MOVE. Many black people joined the organization and changed their surname to Africa. They shunned all the modern technology and materialism and vowed people to return to the nature.
The first conflict with law enforcement occurred after six years, when policed tried to evict from their house. One police officer was killed and many people were injured from both sides. Nine members were sentenced to a period of hundred years in prison for the murder of the police officer. The group moved to a row house on Osage Avenue in 1981, where they built fortified rooftop bunker and broadcasted their agenda and political lectures with bullhorns at all hours. The members of MOVE also possessed arms illegally. The mayor and police commissioner declared them a terrorist organization.
On morning of May 13, 1985, police raided the houses to arrest four members of the MOVE. The police ordered them to come out peacefully, but the shooting started from the house. In response the police fired ten thousand rounds of ammunition in 90 minutes, but the MOVE did not surrender. The City mayor and State Senator Hardy Williams plead for de-escalation, but the police commissioner, Gregore Sambor, dined and gave the order to bomb the house.
At 5:28 p.m., a satchel bomb composed of FBI-supplied C4 and Tovex TR2, a dynamite substitute, on a 45-second timer was dropped from a state police helicopter, detonating near the fortified pillbox on the roof of the house. The blaze raged out of control, spreading down the block of row houses and hopping the narrow streets. By the time it was extinguished four hours later, 61 houses had been razed. Eleven members of MOVE including the founder John Africa, five adults and five children between the ages of seven were killed.
