Snellville, Ga. (October 6, 2025) – Piedmont Eastside Medical Center named Firemedic Senior Sean DeRoth, Firefighter/EMT Ethan Banan, and Firefighter Hurst Young with Gwinnett County Fire Station 12, the organization’s First Friday Heroes for the month of October.
On May 31, a shooting took place at Briscoe Park, where multiple gun shots were fired and Gwinnett County set up an incident command to handle response to the incident. DeRoth, Banan, and Young were on the first arriving med unit (Med 12) to the scene. When they arrived, they were approached by multiple bystanders exhorting them to provide care. The trio remained calm and focused, listened to incident command and direction provided by Snellville Police, and got to the known most critical patient. They were able to access the teenager who had a critical gunshot wound, load her onto the ambulance and transport her to the nearest hospital quickly. Firefighter Hurst Young (Truck 12) rode in with Med 12 assisting in caring for the patient.
From the time Med 12 arrived on the scene to when the patient was put into transport was less than five minutes, which is an incredible response time for an incident like this. In total, there were five minors injured that day, and all were stabilized. Their response made a positive impact on the individuals they treated and because of the actions of everyone involved that day, there were no fatalities.
A ceremony with DeRoth, Banan, Young and hospital leadership was held on Wednesday, Oct.1 at Piedmont Eastside to commend them for their response.
At the ceremony, Neha Verma, M.D., ED Assistant Medical Director at Piedmont Eastside and Associate Medical Director for Gwinnett Fire and EMS, presented the trio with certificates.
“As healthcare professionals, we know that in situations like this, especially when dealing with young patients, every minute counts when getting them to the critical care they need to make a full recovery,” said Dr. Verma. “I personally want to commend these men on their calmness during that event and their ability to transport the most critical so quickly.”
Piedmont Eastside created the First Friday Hero program to recognize first responders and everyday heroes quarterly who have gone above and beyond the call of duty.
“Their line of work is often a thankless job, and we want to make the community aware of what our local heroes do to make Gwinnett County a safer place,” said Piedmont Eastside CEO Larry Ebert.