Police are searching for the father of a baby left in a stroller in Times Square on Tuesday night.
The New York police department said they received an emergency call at about 11pm concerning the six-month-old girl, who was found at West 44th Street and Seventh Avenue. Police reported that she was unharmed, conscious and alert inside a stroller. The infant was transported to an area hospital.
Detectives are now looking for the father, who they say frequents the Times Square area, by pulling surveillance footage and canvassing locals with a picture of the child to try to retrace his steps.
Under New York state law, a parent who is unable or unwilling to care for an infant younger than 30 days old is allowed to give them up if they take proper measures and ensure the child’s safety.
The law, enacted in 2000, says a parent is not guilty of a crime if the baby is left with an appropriate person or in a safe location such as a police precinct, hospital or firehouse. If the child is older than 30 days, a parent is supposed to contact the administration for children’s services field office.
The latest baby-welfare incident comes amid increased anxiety after a seven-month-old baby girl was shot during a gang-related shootout in Brooklyn earlier this month.
Kaori Patterson-Moore was fatally shot on 1 April when two men on a motorcycle riding against the flow of traffic through the Williamsburg neighborhood and the man riding pillion took out a gun and fired.
Amuri Greene, 21, has since been charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty. Matthew Rodriguez, 18, the driver of the bike, was charged with murder in connection with the killing.
“It wasn’t my fault, I didn’t pull the trigger,” Rodriguez told reporters at his arraignment.
New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, called the girl’s murder “an unthinkable loss” and said: “We cannot accept this violence as normal.”
Over the weekend, eight children, aged three to 11, were killed in a mass shooting in Louisiana when Shamar Elkins, the father of seven of the victims, went on an early-morning rampage with a pistol that authorities described as an “execution-style” attack.
Elkins, 31, a former member of the Louisiana national guard, was shot dead by police after fleeing the scene. The two mothers of the seven children were also badly injured. It was the deadliest mass shooting in the US this year.