DAYTON — On Sept. 21, 2021 one moment, one trigger, one bullet changed a Dayton officer's life.

Officer Thadeu Holloway was investigating a report of a man trying to use fake money at a store.

“When he turned to face me I knew something was wrong,” Holloway said.

He said the suspect threw a punch, so he tased him.

Despite multiple requests to put his hands behind his back, Holloway said the suspect reached for a gun and shot him in the head.

“I new I'd been shot, obviously. I fell to the ground, I never lost consciousness, I knew what happened. I knew what I had to do, so after I had returned fire, I was in my head thinking, ‘I'mgoing to die,'” Holloway said.

He was covered in blood and knew he had to get to the hospital fast.

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“I could feel the blood spewing out of my head, I could taste the blood as it was running from my face, I could see it as it was pooling in front of me,” he recalled.

Another officer put Holloway in a cruiser and got him to Miami Valley Hospital in under four minutes; Holloway remembers it all.

His wife Amanda Holloway was home with their two girls when she got a phone call.

When she turned on Main Street and saw the street covered with police cars, she knew that wasn't a good sign.

All she could do was wait while doctors worked on his injuries.

“The bullet hit right here on my temple, and traveled underneath the skin and then came out here,” Thadeu recalled.

Recovery has been a long and difficult process.

Holloway said he is still dealing with a traumatic brain injury, memory issues and headaches.

He also has trouble finding words, has ringing in his ear and some hearing, as well as vision loss.

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