A pair of anglers came upon a man’s body while preparing to fish the Shoshone River in Cody Tuesday morning; police say the man appears to have died by suicide.

Edward John Nielsen had recently moved to Cody from Nevada and was 72 years old at the time of his death, police said.

The two fishermen had been preparing to get on the river, at the 12th Street Shoshone Riverway Trail and Boat Access, when they saw a body about 12 feet offshore. Cody police were contacted shortly after 8 a.m.

Officers and members of the Park County Search and Rescue unit removed Nielsen’s body from the river and police also recovered a handgun from the scene. On Wednesday morning, forensic pathologic Dr. Thomas Bennett conducted an autopsy in Basin and, according to police, his preliminary investigation concluded that Nielsen died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police said in a Wednesday afternoon news release that Nielsen had also made previous statements indicating that the gunshot would be self-inflicted, but they said the case is still under investigation.

Police had secured the area — including the river access on River View Drive and 12th Street — for several hours on Tuesday while personnel processed the scene.

Anyone with information that might be useful to the investigation is asked to contact Cody Police Detective Juston Wead at 307-527-8700.