The Philadelphia community is still reeling from shock and processing the events of the horrific tragedy in which a medical jet went down in flames on Friday.
The Learjet 55 went down near Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard after taking off, killing seven people—including an 11-year-old girl. On Monday, Mayor Cherelle Parker announced that the number of wounded individuals went up from 22 to 24.
Among the injured was 10-year-old Trey Howard, who suffered a severe head injury after he and his family went to get doughnuts coinciding with the plane crashing near their car.
The boy is being hailed a hero after he shielded his four-year-old sister from flying metal debris from the plane's fiery explosion.
While he protected his sister inside the parked car, a piece of metal crashed through the windshield and struck him in the head.
His father, Andre Howard Jr., remembered the conversation he had with his son, a “die-hard” Philadelphia Eagles fan, following an emergency brain surgery.
When the boy regained consciousness after the successful surgery, Howard Jr. recalled the following conversation with his son.
"'We didn't play yesterday did we?' 'No, you didn't miss the Super Bowl.'"
What the boy said next had Howard Jr. holding back tears.
His son asked:
"Daddy, did I save my sister?"
He continued:
'You told us to get down. I was just trying to help my sister… Next thing I know, I thought I died."
When news of the boy's heroism reached Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown, the NFL star took to social media and praised the kid and promised to visit him after giving it his all at the Super Bowl game against the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday.
"Speedy recovery! You are a Hero young man!" wrote Brown, adding:
"I’m going to come see you when I get back. Hopefully with some hardware. Playing for you on Sunday my man."
Fans were moved by Brown's inspired post.
Howard Jr. remains enormously proud of his brave boy.
He told ABC News:
"As a dad, it’s bittersweet... I'm glad he listened but that's my job, not his job, to protect his sister.”
You can watch the news report here.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
The boy's mother, Lashawn Hamiel, set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds toward her son's medical expenses and physical therapy in addition to travel, lodging, and lost income for the family while they take care of him for his long road to recovery.
As of Thursday morning, the campaign raised $116,365, beyond its $80K goal.
The upcoming match between the Eagles and Chiefs holds particular relevance as the regions from the opposing teams are tied to similar tragedies within days of each other.
Two days before the plane crashed in northeast Philadelphia on Friday, an outbound American Airlines commercial jet from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter in the Washington, D.C., area on January 29, 2025.
The tragic incident is the nation's first major commercial airline crash since 2009. There are no known survivors.
Thoughts about the victims and their families took a backseat when Republican President Donald Trump politicized the tragedy, claiming without evidence that the mid-air collision was due to the former administration's implementation of DEI initiatives.
