Police say they got a call for an unconscious man on the beach near Brighton 15 Street Boardwalk East.

EMS pronounced him dead on the scene.

Sources close to the investigation say he was spotted in the water and washed ashore.

News 12 spoke with people walking the beach on Christmas like Janell who says she was horrified.

“It’s sad that this is actually going on. I grew up here. It’s beautiful growing up by the beach but to deal with this it’s a little intense," said Janell.

While it's unclear how that man died, residents like Saetlana Amirchanov say it's not uncommon for people to swim in the winter despite the flags that advise not to.

“I don’t think it’s criminal. Hopefully it’s not. Maybe he was just swimming, a lot of people swim during the wintertime, maybe something happened," said Amirchanov.

As of Thursday evening, it's unclear who that man was or how he died.

Police say that a medical examiner is working to determine his official cause of death.