An Air Force brigadier general who's a Wyoming native died of a gunshot wound that likely was self-inflicted, a spokesman said Monday.

Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Tinsley, the commander at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, suffered a gunshot wound to his chest late Sunday night and was pronounced dead within a half hour, said Col. Richard Walberg, who assumed command at Elmendorf after Tinsley's death.

"To the best information, it's possible it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Walberg said at a news conference. The weapon was likely a handgun.

Tinsley, born in Wheatland, was the son of Del Tinsley of Casper and Marilyn Tinsley of Chadron, Neb. He graduated from Torrington High School in 1981.

A memorial service is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at First Christian Church in Wheatland.

Medical responders rushed to Tinsley's home on base but were unsuccessful in trying to save him Sunday night. Tinsley's wife and college-age daughter were home at the time of the shooting.

Tinsley was named base commander in May 2007. He had served as an F-15 instructor pilot, F-15C test pilot, wing weapons officer, exchange officer and instructor with the Royal Australian Air Force.

His previous 22-month assignment was executive officer to the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Mosely, who in June resigned under pressure in an agency shake-up.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ousted both Mosely, the Air Force military chief, and Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne, the agency's civilian head, holding them accountable for failing to fully correct an erosion of nuclear-related performance standards. One concern was a cross-country flight in August 2007 of a B-52 carrying armed nuclear weapons.

Walberg said Tinsley was not under investigation or undue stress.

"Gen. Tinsley was under no investigation," he said. "As far as stress, sir, this job, by nature of being an Air Force officer in a nation at war, is stressful. Undue stress, no."

Walberg lives across the street from the base commander's home.

Representatives of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology will do a report and declare whether Tinsley's cause of death was suicide, Walberg said.

"We're assuming it was, and I'm not prepared to make that statement," he said. A report takes an average of 30 days to complete, he said.

Tinsley's outstanding achievement was the care he showed for those under his command, Walberg said.

"Brig. Gen. Tom Tinsley's best accomplishment in the 15 months or so that he's been the commander is his absolute love, and I mean love with a capital L, for his airmen. His first thought in the morning, his last thought at night for his professional family was how can I better take care of these airmen who are being sent in harm's way."