HPD officer receives Officer of the Year Award after stopping gunman on dangerous crime spree

HOUSTON - One of Houston's finest is being recognized internationally after he helped stop a gunman, as we show you in the police body cam video that we obtained. The gunman had already shot him and two of his fellow officers in the Third Ward where he fired dozens of shots at Houston police officers.

Officer N. Gadson is now Officer of the Year after a gunman was shooting at Houston police officers with a handgun that had been converted into a machine gun. Not only did he shoot three police officers in broad daylight, he then carjacked a woman, but what Officer Gadson did next helped end this unbelievable crime spree.

"We didn't want a chase, didn't want a shooting on the streets," explains Officer Gadson, but unfortunately all of the above and then some happened as you see in Officer Gadson's body cam footage.

BACKGROUND: 3 Houston police officers shot, suspect now facing multiple charges

"That could have been our coffin, but it wasn't," Officer Gadson says referring to their patrol vehicle that was riddled with bullets and he adds. "There were bullet holes where our heads were. So at the end of the day I probably wouldn't be standing here being able to talk to you if we didn't get as small as we could in the vehicle."

Fortunately, this father and family man is still here with his fiancée and loved ones.

That day in January 2022 Officer Gadson and his partner were headed back up to a domestic violence call. The alleged abuser took off in his car, leading police on a chase, and he crashed on McGowen at Hutchins in Third Ward.

Investigators say Roland Caballero then opened fire on officers.

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"Shooting into our vehicle, striking Officer Hayden in the arm first, rendering his shooting arm inoperable. From a tactical standpoint, I was trying to make sure I was taking the right measures not to get myself injured, and my partners injured and to mitigate civilian death. I probably got seven to nine shots into the vehicle before the suspect shot me through my heel," explains the six-year veteran of the Houston Police Department. "In the video you see me drop my first magazine that was my body's initial reaction to pain. In the shooting world that's called death gripping the weapon. I have pretty big hands, and I was basically squeezing the life out of my firearm. (Because you were in so much pain?) Correct."

After he's shot, Officer Gadson immediately starts running after the man who's shooting at him with an altered handgun that can fire 50 bullets in four seconds.

"I was in front of Officer Alvarez when he shot. He missed me and struck Officer Alvarez in his femur, breaking his femur," the Officer explains.

MORE: Houston Police Shootout: Suspect Roland Caballero facing federal charges for injuring 3 officers

Detectives say Caballero then carjacked a woman for her white Mercedes but Officer Gadson squeezed another round, shooting Caballero in the neck. Bleeding profusely, Caballero barricaded himself in a house, and after nightfall, he surrendered.

Officer Gadson took me back to the scene where he says his combat training in the U.S. Marines Corps helped that day when a residential street in Houston seemed to turn into a war zone.

"In hindsight, you try to think of things you could have done better, so I have sat here on the street and thought of things I could have done better," he says. Miraculously no one was killed that day.

This Houston hero has now been recognized as such, receiving the International Association of Police Chief's Officer of the Year Award.

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"I do believe God was watching over us. That day all I was thinking about was getting back home to my fiancée and my kids. We all have a calling in this world, and I've always wanted to help people. (So that's truly your purpose, you feel, to protect and serve?) I do," smiles Gadson.

The three officers who were shot have all recovered. As for Caballero, he's in jail awaiting trial.