Air Force Master Sgt. Zachary Robinson holds the Air Force Sergeants Association’s Pitsenbarger Award during a ceremony at Fargo Air National Guard Base, N.D., on March 1, 2025. (Brody Katka/U.S. Air Force)

An Air National Guard member who subdued a gunman following a 2023 police shooting in North Dakota recently received the Air Force Sergeants Association’s Pitsenbarger Award for extraordinary courage and selflessness.

Master Sgt. Zachary Robinson, who is a Fargo police officer in his civilian career, received the award March 1 at the Fargo Air National Guard base in front of 119th Wing airmen and a host of city leaders.

Robinson was honored for his heroism on July 14, 2023, when a 37-year-old man shot and killed Fargo police officer Jake Wallin. Officers Tyler Hawes and Andrew Dotas and an innocent bystander were injured.

“I, along with the Airmen of the 119th Wing, truly appreciate all that our first responders provide our community and couldn’t be prouder of Master Sgt. Robinson for his service in and out of the military uniform,” wing commander Col. Christopher Domitrovich said in a statement.

Robinson was responding to a traffic accident with the three other police officers when a man in a nearby parked car opened fire on them.

“He shot off several rounds right away and those three officers fell to the ground,” Robinson recalled during a phone interview with Stars and Stripes. “The suspect then got out of his vehicle and that’s when I was first able to see him.

“I took cover behind one of the vehicles involved in the accident and shot four rounds at him. He ran around the back of his vehicle out of my sight.”

Robinson called for backup as the shooter emerged from behind his vehicle and shot at a civilian fleeing the scene, he said.

While the shooter was exposed, Robinson fired at him until he fell to the ground. After several unheeded demands that the gunman drop his weapon, Robinson said he closed in and killed the shooter just as backup arrived.

Guns, ammunition and homemade explosives were found in the car of a shooter in Fargo, N.D., who killed a police officer and wounded two other officers and a bystander on July 14, 2023. (Fargo Police Department)

Fargo police announced at a press conference the following week that they found 1,800 rounds of ammunition, guns and homemade explosives in the shooter’s car.

“Through his quick actions and instinct to run toward danger, Zach prevented a much larger tragedy in our community,” Domitrovich said.

Though he rejects the label “hero,” Robinson said he is honored to receive the Pitsenbarger Award.

Nineteen months later, with the two injured officers back on duty after completing physical rehabilitation, Robinson said he is learning to walk the fine line between accepting the tragedy and being grateful that it wasn’t any worse.

“I think now I feel a bit of relief,” he said. “We’re very fortunate that we were a five-minute drive from a hospital where those guys could immediately get trauma care, but thinking about the one guy who didn’t make it home that day is something that will probably never go away.

“You just kind of learn to adapt and keep moving forward.”