F.T. Norton/Nevada AppealRescue vehicles line the Seely Loop side of Mills Park where deputies found a man with a gunshot wound to the leg Monday night.
A Dayton man was found Monday night sitting inside his car on the Seely Loop side of Mills Park with a gunshot wound to his leg.
According to Deputy Mike Fischer, the 32-year-old man was to join some friends at a nearby apartment complex for dinner.
He spoke to the friends while parked near the Pony Express Pavilion and said he was changing.
When he didn't come inside, the two women went out to look for him and found him bleeding inside his vehicle about 7 p.m.
Sheriff Ken Furlong said a .45 caliber handgun was found inside the man's vehicle as well as a spent shell casing.
The man told officers he carried the gun as protection against a claimed threat. He did not say someone else shot him, nor did he admit to shooting himself, said Furlong.
Fischer said the wound entered the outside of his right leg and exited his calf.
"This is not, somebody was shot at Mills Park," said Furlong.
The man was taken from the park by helicopter to the Reno trauma center.
The shooting is under investigation.