A US man woke up abruptly in the night to discover that he was holding a gun and had shot himself in the leg.

According to ABC News the New Hampshire man woke up from a nightmare just as the gun went off.

Concord Police Department received a call at 12.30am said Tim O’Malley, public information officer for the department (pictured above).

According to the police, the man was alone at the time of the incident and his wife said she believes that he was sleepwalking.

The neighbourhood where the incident took place.

He was taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

"We'd like to know what happened and have more details, but the only witness was the person who was shot, and it sounds like he doesn't know exactly what happened," said O'Malley.

The man’s name has not been released and they are not planning on filing charges as it is believed that the incident was an accident.

Bizarrely enough this isn’t the first time it has been reported that someone has shot themselves while sleeping.

Sounds like a complete nightmare.

Pics via wmur