CNN
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Andre Howard Jr. had just picked up his three children from school and taken them to Dunkin’ Donuts for an evening snack, a cherished weekly family ritual that abruptly turned into a terrifying, narrow escape from tragedy.
Their wholesome tradition was violently disrupted when a medevac jet crashed in a northeast Philadelphia neighborhood on January 31, showering flames and debris on homes and vehicles traveling on the street, including the Howard family’s truck.
“My babies wanted some strawberry donuts, so we went to Dunkin’ Donuts,” Howard told CNN. “We heard a boom, a really loud boom, and we saw a fireball that covered the whole entire sky.”
Seven people were killed — all six aboard the flight and a father who was inside his car — after the twin-engine jet carrying a child patient and her mother crashed. At least 24 people were injured on the ground.
Valentina Guzmán Murillo, the child on board, had just been released from the hospital where she was receiving treatment for her spina bifida condition before she was killed along with her mother.
Among the injured were at least two other children, including a 10-year-old, who was struck by debris in his head while shielding his little sister, and a 9-year-old battling burns on 90% of his body after losing his father in the crash.
Here are their stories.
It was a nightmare unfolding in real time: Howard described how he immediately put his truck in reverse to avoid the debris. The family watched cars being engulfed in flames, a man on fire and people flying into the air.
“In those couple of seconds, everything was moving in slow motion,” Howard said.
Amid the chaos and panic, Howard said he heard his 10-year-old son Andre, who is named after him, tell his 4-year-old sister to get down. Andre then dove on her to shield her from flying debris.
When he checked the back seat, his daughter and another son, 7, were physically fine, but he discovered Andre had something lodged in his head.
“I see my unconscious son with a piece of metal in his head. I got out of the truck and put a sock on his head, and as I moved him, the metal piece fell, and he was gushing out blood,” Howard told CNN, fighting back tears.
Howard said a man approached, took off his shirt and handed it to him to help with the bleeding. A woman came over and looked after his two other kids while he was tending to Andre, he added.
They flagged down a police car about 30 feet from the scene. The family got in the back seat and made it to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital in less than 10 minutes, Howard said.
The plan was to get Andre flown from there to a local children’s hospital that would be better suited to treat pediatric patients. “But if we put him in the flight, he’s not going to make it,” Howard recalled a doctor telling him. With time running out, Andre underwent emergency surgery at the hospital.
The medical team warned him there was a possibility Andre would never be able to walk again, and his vision could be impaired.
Following the surgery and a CT scan, Andre was transferred to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in stable condition. Since then, he’s been making progress. He’s expected to walk, and his vision is fine, his father said.
When Andre came to, the first thing he did was ask about his sister. “Did I save her from the crash?” Andre asked his dad.
For Howard, there’s no doubt in his mind Andre saved his sister’s life.
“Andre is my superhero,” he said. “As a dad, I’ve always instilled in them (his two sons) to protect your sister when daddy is not around. And I’m grateful to have a son like Andre.”
Hours before the crash, staff at a Philadelphia hospital gathered for a loving send-off for Valentina Guzmán Murillo and her mother, Lizeth Murillo Osuna, ahead of their flight home to Ensenada in the Mexican state of Baja California.
Valentina had been receiving care for a pressure sore related to her spina bifida condition, said Susan Marie Fasino, the founder of His Wings Ranch, an organization that provides care to special needs kids and was helping the family access treatment. The 11-year-old had faced numerous health challenges and was very frail, Fasino wrote in a Facebook post. Spina bifidia occurs when there’s a problem with the development of the spinal cord, leaving a gap or a split in the spine.
“The plan was to bring them home to live out the rest of her life surrounded with love and with her adoring family,” Fasino said.
Caregivers, staff and patients joined together to “wish her well on her journey and to punctuate her time at Shriners Children’s Philadelphia as meaningful and impactful,” Shriners spokesperson Mel Bower told CNN.
The young girl formed close bonds with other patients and all the staff who knew her, Bower said. “She will be remembered for her sweet spirit, and we will take that spirit with us as we go forward.”
In the last six months of her life, Osuna was finally able to see her daughter “getting the help she desperately fought for her whole life,” Fasino said. Osuna was “one of the most adoring, attentive mothers a child could ever have.”
“She literally never left her side,” Fasino said. “They lived every moment together and they entered eternity together.”
Ramesses Dreuitt is fighting for his life after his father was killed when their car caught fire near the crash site and engulfed the 9-year-old’s body in flames, the child’s grandmother told CNN affiliate KYW.
Virgen Viera was scanning her phone for updates about the crash when photos and videos began flooding social media. Then she came across a heart-wrenching video showing her own grandson.
“A couple minutes later, I see the internet video of somebody coming out from the fire,” Viera told KYW. “In an instant when I see him, I say, ‘That’s him.’”
First responders at the scene found a person dead inside one of the vehicles. The Philadelphia medical examiner’s office identified that man as 37-year-old Steven Dreuitt, Ramesses’ dad, from Philadelphia.
Viera shared a photo with KYW of her grandson lying in a hospital bed, his entire body wrapped in bandages. The young boy, who she described as “a happy kid,” has been recovering in a burn unit in Boston, she said.
The family launched a GoFundMe page to support Ramesses, who is currently in a coma and will need surgery, according to the online fundraiser.
While they grieve the death of Ramesses’ father, the family has asked for privacy and is focused on the boy’s recovery.
After receiving so much love for her son Ramesses, his mother was moved by everyone’s kindness and asked for prayers.
“I wasn’t gonna put any of this on social media,” his mother said in a Facebook post. “But I understand that it is about him and the love y’all want to show him. I ask for prayers, He is strong and my faith in God is big. But I feel like my prayers are not enough.”
CNN’s Sarah Dewberry, Rebekah Riess and Danny Freeman contributed to this report.
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