Airman shoots himself in calf

NICEVILLE — Emergency crews were called to an accidental shooting early Friday morning.

According to David Birch, assistant chief with the East Niceville Fire Department, an airman was visiting friends when he shot himself in the calf with a .40-caliber pistol around 2 a.m.

Call records state the man was “bleeding profusely.” The man’s friends told dispatch they were trying to stop the bleeding with a towel.

He was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Eglin Air Force Base’s hospital.

“He was in stable condition upon our arrival,” Birch wrote in an email. “His friends had controlled the bleeding.”

The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office is investigating the incident.