Officials pronounced a newborn infant dead after someone found the baby alone behind a south Phoenix business on Thursday near 35th Avenue and Baseline Road. 

Phoenix police responded to a call of an unresponsive child about 1 p.m. and found the infant unresponsive and not breathing. The Phoenix Fire Department pronounced the baby dead at the scene.

As of 4:30 p.m. police were processing the scene, canvassing the area, and attempting to locate and review surveillance footage, Phoenix police spokesperson Sgt. Ann Justus said at a news conference in front of the business were the baby was found. 

The infant was described as “a very newborn child.” 

Police are not releasing the gender of the baby at this time, and are unsure whether the child died at the scene or at a different location and was later left behind the business.

Options are available for parents who are unable to care for or have thoughts of harming their children. 

“If anybody finds themselves in a position where they can’t care for their newborn, please drop your baby off at a hospital or a fire station or call police,” Justus said.

In 2001, Arizona adopted Safe Baby Haven laws, which state that a person will not face criminal charges for handing over an unharmed newborn baby within the first 72 hours after birth with a Safe Haven provider, which includes on-duty fire stations, hospitals, on-duty emergency medical technicians and child-welfare agencies, adoption agencies or churches with Safe Haven signs posted.

Though the National Safe Haven Alliance’s mission is to prevent infanticide and newborn abandonment, the organization can also refer parents of older children to resources available if they are having thoughts of harming their child.

The investigation is still in its early stages and police are encouraging anyone with information to call the Phoenix Police Department at 602-262-6151 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS or 480-TESTIGO for Spanish. 

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or on Twitter @Mkayackley.

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