Chicago police looking at surveillance video after baby boy found dead outside firehouse
CHICAGO - Investigators are trying to figure out who left a baby outside a Chicago firehouse in a duffel bag.
The little boy ended up dying.
There are surveillance cameras in the area. The Chicago Police Department is investigating to see who left the newborn boy outside the station, never handing him to someone.
"Eighteen precious lives were saved in 2021, left at either hospitals or fire departments," said Nick Silverio, founder of A Safe Haven for Newborns.
It was a heartbreaking discovery early Saturday morning for a Chicago firefighter at the firehouse along North Orleans St. A fireman went out to shovel snow and spotted a duffel bag steps away from the firehouse.
Inside was a newborn baby, dead. It is unclear if the boy was already dead or died from the cold weather conditions.
The firehouse holds a specialized unit. In Illinois, parents have up to 30 days to hand over their infant.
Under the Safe Haven laws, locations include hospitals, police and fire stations with staff on duty.
"They must give the baby to somebody. Once they do that, there will be no questions asked, totally anonymous, and the mother can walk away," Silverio said.
In Illinois, 144 babies were handed over safely since the law passed.
Eight-nine were illegally abandoned and 50 percent of those didn't survive.