One call-out to a Preston hotel room ended Rob Campbell's 30-year policing career, with the Melbourne sergeant who was shot on duty retiring after being recognised for his courage.
On Friday, Sergeant Campbell was awarded the Victoria Police Star, which recognises officers killed or injured on-duty, and the Medal for Courage for his actions on October 2, 2014.
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Sergeant Rob Campbell's Operation Wedding
It would take more than a gunshot wound and a shattered leg to stop Sergeant Rob Campbell walking his daughter down the aisle.
That night, a man by the name of Martin Pilli was suicidal and armed with a knife in a room in the Sleep N Go hotel on Bell Street, Preston.
He was trying to hang himself when Sergeant Campbell, Senior Constable Michelle Belaj and First Constable Justin Russo burst in.
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Within a minute, the rescue mission warped into a struggle of survival with Pilli, wrestling with the officers, and then grabbing Sergeant Campbell's gun, which was still in his holster.
Pilli shot Sergeant Campbell in his right leg, the bullet shattering the officer's tibia and fibula and causing irreparable damage that meant he would never be an operational police officer again.
It has forced the 52-year-old beat cop into retirement.
"The plastic surgeon told me this is it now, get used to it, start making other plans," he said.
"It wasn't in the plan, I was planning on going on until at least 60 so [I've fallen] somewhat short."
Despite the truncation of his police career, Sergeant Campbell said he wouldn't change his actions that night. For him, there was no other alternative.
"They tell you three things when you come into this place – protect life, preserve the peace and prevent crime. If you're not prepared to at least try and do that then you can't do the job," he said.
His detective wife Marianne Luttick, who says she joined the job because he did, said it was never the way her husband wanted to end his career.
"But you couldn't be more proud," she said.
"He loved every minute of it."
Senior Constable Belaj and First Constable Russo were also awarded the medal of courage by Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton at the police academy on Friday.
Hotel security officer Mohammed Al-Hamdani was awarded a citizen's commendation for helping the officers restrain Pilli.
Like Sergeant Campbell, 26-year-old Mr Al-Hamdani said there was no question of whether he would step in.
"It's human instinct more than anything else," he said.
Pilli, 42 at the time, was sentenced to 20 months jail in April.