An investigation is underway after a newborn baby boy was found dead inside a dumpster in Florida. As per the New York Post, a construction worker found the baby's body inside a box near an apartment building on Monday morning. David Vazquez, 21, found the baby at around 8 a.m. outside a condominium along Rodman Street, near South Federal Highway, and notified his boss. Mr Vasquez said he ''smelled a bad odour'' at the dumpster, where he saw a blue grocery bag.
''I went to open the bag. When I opened the bag, I saw the baby and it was already lifeless,'' he told CBS News adding that the infant looked like a newborn and he believes the bag was placed there over the weekend.
''One of my job sites, we're a roofing company, we have found a child in a dumpster. It was a child, a kid, a human. My crew arrived at the site to start the day and I guess they realized when they were going to throw debris in the dumpster that they saw the child inside, so they called me and I'm calling you, I'm not there on site,” an official with the construction company said in the call which was released on Tuesday.
Hollywood Police Department officers rushed to the site after the call. When first responders arrived at the scene, they attempted to save the baby but it was unresponsive and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Meanwhile, the incident has sent shockwaves in the neighbourhood, leaving people disturbed.
"It's just gut-wrenching and I've been here for 40 years. I never, never, we've had things like this. I'm just like, I don't know, it's shocking, it's disgusting," Eugene Yakymiw told CBS News.
“It's unbelievable. It's like if people don't want a baby, they could have gave it up to the firemen or leave it at a hospital,” Roger Cote, who also lives in the area, also told the outlet.
Hollywood police are now investigating how the baby died and who the parents are. They are specifically looking for anyone who might have footage that could help them locate a suspect.
“If you live near this area, this is the 1700 block of Rodman Street in the city of Hollywood, and you have a Ring camera and you believe that you have some kind of footage on your Ring camera or your doorbell camera, please don't hesitate to call us,” Officer Christian Lata, a Hollywood Police Department spokesperson, said.
''Also, a lot of people now have Teslas and those vehicles have 24/7 surveillance around the cars, and you live around the area and you have one of those vehicles that are constantly recording, take a second, look at your vehicle, and see if you have anything that would be useful to us,'' he added.
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