Body pulled from West River in New Haven

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- A body has been found in the West River behind the New Haven Regional Fire Training Academy on Ella Grasso Boulevard.  

Luis Vega found the body when he went down to the pond behind the Academy to fish around 9:30 Friday morning.

"Immediately my heart started racing and so I knocked on the door of the fire academy," he said. "And I told about ten or fifteen fire guys that I thought there was a dead body floating in the water. They went to look, they thought it was a dummy at first."

Firefighters used binoculars to determine it was the body of a person.

Witnesses told News 8's Jeff Valin the body appeared to be a man in his 50s or 60s and appeared to have been burned.

An officer estimated the body had been in the water a few days.

Police have not released the victim's name.
   
An autopsy will have to be performed to determine cause of death.