The whole thing was on tv live. The adults were criminals and the standoff lasted several days. Mayor Wilson Goode ordered the the attack as a last resort. They were warned, but refused to come out.
Mayor Goode ordered social workers to make periodic wellness checks on the MOVE family. Before a check police would alert neighbors and advise them to evacuate in the event of a violent confrontation. It became normal and routine to evacuate.
When I would visit my uncle I could hear the MOVE members digging a tunnel right underneath my uncle’s row house.
Early one morning my uncle and aunt ( with luggage already packed for a cruise to Hawaii ) were asked to evacuate as usual and with only coats and wallets walked to a nearby relatives home to wait it out. Unfortunately they never saw their home or cherished belongings again.
Several bodies were recovered from that tunnel!
The city awarded a contract to a shoddy contractor to rebuild the row houses. In the meantime all the displaced residents were relocated to low rent apartments.
Upon completion once everyone was resettled back to Osage Avenue, they were beyond despair to find uneven floors and thin easily damaged walls and ill fitting windows. There was a second relocation while everyone awaited another demolishment and rebuild.
During this time my uncle succumbed to cancer and my aunt was placed in a nursing home where she also lost her battle with the incompetence of the City of Philadelphia.