'Don't shoot no more': How two got out of the MOVE house

(Staff writer Amy Linn also contributed to this report)

As flames enveloped the MOVE house in the midst of Monday's firestorm, suddenly, startlingly, two figures emerged from the back door.

Philadelphia police stakeout officers watched a woman and a teenage boy stumble into the back-yard no man's land.

There were Ramona Johnson Africa, 30, and Birdie Ward Africa, 13. Behind them were the barricades and guns of MOVE and the heat and shock of the spreading fire. Ahead were the police.

This account - the first available portrait of how police took custody of the woman and the teenager, the only two MOVE members known to have survived the assault on the MOVE compound - was disclosed yesterday.

Three knowledgeable police sources, relying on the reports from police sharpshooters who were posted behind the house at 6221 Osage Ave., said the woman and the boy emerged from the rear of the besieged and flaming building about 7:30 p.m. Monday.

Then, the sources said in separate interviews, the following took place:

Birdie Africa slipped in a large "lakelike" puddle, about 18 inches deep, as he and Ramona Africa were running in a rear driveway slightly to the west of the MOVE house. Ramona Africa tried to grab the boy. He slipped away from her grasp and she lost hold.

Seeing this, one of the three sharpshooters - the father of a boy about Birdie Africa's age - rushed out and brought Birdie to safety.

"I've had enough," Ramona Africa yelled. "Don't shoot no more."

Then she turned. She waved. Slowly, she began walking to the MOVE house.

A fourth sharpshooter, concealed in a nearby position, yelled:

"That's a trap!"

One of the three sharpshooters at the rear of the house shouted to Ramona Africa: "Come to us. We're not coming to you."

She ducked.

Automatic-weapons fire burst from the rear of the MOVE house.

One source said police returned fire. Another source said police did not shoot back. The third source said he did not know.

The four sharpshooters said they saw at least one armed MOVE member come outside the back door and open fire. One of the sharpshooters, the police officer who was in concealment, said he saw three armed MOVE members inside the house near the doorway and a fourth at the door.

A short while later, a short distance away, another group of police officers arrested Ramona Africa, the sources said. It was not clear how she had left the back yard unscathed.

Ramona Africa was jailed, where she was held on a variety of charges in lieu of $3.25 million bail. She suffered second-degree burns over 40 percent of her body but initially refused medical aid, according to David S. Owens, head of the city's Detention Center. But yesterday, after her condition deteriorated, she was taken to the prison medical facility. Her condition was not life-threatening, Owens said.

Birdie Africa was taken to Children's Hospital, where, under heavy guard, he was recovering from burns. He was listed in good condition yesterday.

Another police source, who spoke with Birdie Africa, said that the boy had not wanted to be rescued.

The source added that the boy was being visited by his father and grandmother and that he appeared to be doing well.

"He's a bright little boy," the source said.

As of yesterday, the Police Department had no official version of the events.