SALEM - Police say a 44-year-old Windham man drowned while trying to swim across Shadow Lake after he had been drinking.

Police have identified the victim as Raymond Morton.

According to a press release, emergency responders were called to the area of 75 Shadow Lake Road shortly after 9 p.m. for a report of an intoxicated man who had gone swimming and was missing.

Police said witnesses told them the man had been swimming with family members when he decided to swim across the lake to the Windham side, but he had not been seen for 15 minutes.

Salem Police Officers Mike Bolduc and Mike Geha borrowed a neighbor’s boat and found Morton floating face down in the water about 75 yards from shore. They were unable to pull him into the small boat but did keep him above the water and got him close enough to shore so that Salem Fire Department divers were able to retrieve him, according to the press release.

Rescuers tried to resusciate Morton, who was “unresponsive,” police said. He was taken by ambulance to Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, Mass., where he was later pronounced dead.

Police are investigating the incident.