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Deputy helped save life of teen shot on MLK Day
Deputy Eban Prado has been with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office for four years. About a year-and-a-half ago, he also joined the Army National Guard as a combat medic. Monday, he was the first on the scene when a 17-year-old was shot in the leg at Dwight Hawkins Park in Deltona.
DELTONA, Fla. - Deputy Eban Prado has been with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office for four years. About a year-and-a-half ago, he also joined the Army National Guard as a combat medic.
Monday, he was the first on the scene when a 17-year-old was shot in the leg at Dwight Hawkins Park in Deltona. The sheriff’s office said the teen was just sitting on a park bench when someone blasted a hole through his leg.
"It’s open, bruh. My whole leg," the teenager can be heard telling Deputy Prado through body camera footage obtained by FOX 35 News.
"I don’t want to die," the teenager says.
"Relax, I’m a medic," Deputy Prado can be heard in the body camera footage telling the boy. "You’re not going to die."
FOX 35 News spoke exclusively with Deputy Prado after the incident.
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"It can be a lot to see that, you know, when a kid is shot, and he's crying for his life, saying he doesn't want to die," he told FOX 35. "However, we have a job to do. I'm not going to let anything happen to that kid."
He said his training kicked in, and he jumped into action. This was his first time applying a tourniquet outside of training.
"I was thankful that it went as smooth as what it did, especially with there being a large crowd of kids yelling and screaming," said Deputy Prado. "I don't even know the words to say, but it was a lot to deal with."
Deputy Eban Prado helped save a teenager on MLK Day. (Source: Volusia County Sheriff's Office)
Although this incident was Deputy Prado’s first time with a tourniquet, it wasn’t his first time rendering medical aid as a deputy. When Deputy Ethan Thomas was shot in the head on Dec. 20, it was Deputy Prado who was there applying gauze.
This isn’t the first time a Volusia County Sheriff’s deputy has recently used a tourniquet. Deputies used the device on December 16th, 2023, when a 5-year-old girl accidentally shot herself in the leg with a shotgun.
"Let me see, sweetie," deputies can be heard telling the little girl in body camera footage of that incident. "Hold my hand and squeeze. You’re okay."
Moments like these, Lisa Garcia said, make the neighborhood thankful to the sheriff’s office but scared of recent violence nonetheless. She lives right down the road from the park.
"The children don’t play in the streets or anything; everybody’s scared," said Garcia.
"We need a safer community. That’s the bottom line."
That’s also why Deputy Prado thinks everyone should have a tourniquet on hand and at least some medical training.
"Something as simple as this can save someone's life," said Prado.
As for who shot the teen, deputies made an arrest on Jan. 23. The Volusia Sheriff's Office arrested the 16-year-old suspect and charged him with aggravated battery with a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm, possession of a firearm by a juvenile, and discharging a firearm from a vehicle.
Deputies said he was in the seat behind the victim, who was in the driver's seat. "The victim and witnesses told detectives the shooting was accidental," the sheriff's office said.
He was taken to the Volusia Family Resource Center for processing and then transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice.