BOY, 10, WAS HURT SHIELDING SISTER IN PHILLY JET CRASH

A 10-year-old boy was hit by flying debris protecting his sister in the Philadelphia plane crash, then woke from surgery asking if he saved her.

Trey Howard, 10, was seriously injured when a Learjet 55 medical transport jet crashed near Roosevelt Mall in Northeast Philadelphia on January 31, 2025. His father, Andre Howard Jr., said Trey was hurt by flying debris while protecting his younger sister. Howard said he was driving with his children to get doughnuts at about 6:30 p.m. when the crash happened.

“Daddy, did I save my sister?” was one of the first questions Trey asked after waking from emergency brain surgery, Howard told KFOX.

What happened in the car

Howard described the chaos in an interview with WPVI-TV. “It sounded like a missile was firing bullets, metal at my car, everyone else’s car,” he said.

Trey grabbed his sister and told her, “Get down!” as debris struck the family’s vehicle, Howard said.

Then Howard looked at his son. “I turn around — there’s a piece of metal sticking out of my son’s head from the plane,” he said.

The metal came out as he moved Trey, and the boy began bleeding heavily, Howard told ABC News. He used socks to try to stop the bleeding, and another man handed over a shirt, the AP reported.

A police officer transported the family to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where Trey underwent surgery. He was later transferred to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

What happened next

Howard said doctors warned the family that Trey might not survive. Instead, the boy kept making progress.

Trey spent a full weekend in intensive care and moved to a regular room on Monday, ABC News reported. Howard said doctors kept monitoring the boy’s skull to make sure all debris had been removed.

Before Trey asked about his sister, he had been assured he had not missed the Super Bowl, Howard told the AP.

“Am I OK? No. Is his mother OK? No. Is his family OK? No. But we are going to be strong for him every step of this process to get him back to full strength,” Howard said.

The crash killed everyone aboard the plane, along with people on the ground. The child killed aboard was Valentina Guzmán Murillo, 11, who had completed treatment at Shriners Children’s Philadelphia, KFOX reported.

CNN reported investigators’ data showed the plane turned left and began a steep descent about a minute after takeoff.

CBS Philadelphia reported the NTSB published a public docket on August 18, 2026, with more than 1,500 pages of factual information about the crash. The cause remains undetermined.