Two teenage girls suspected of shoplifting were stopped as they were leaving the Victoria’s Secret store in Herald Square, and a security guard checking their bags found what appeared to be a dead baby, police said Thursday.
The girls, both 17, were stopped by a store security guard. It was then that one of the girls admitted she had “a baby in the bag,” CBS 2 reported.
The guard called police. The girl later told police that she had given birth Wednesday and did not know what to do with the stillborn baby, which had matured only five to six months, police said. The girl, who is from Brooklyn, was taken to Bellevue Hospital.
The other teen was being questioned at the Midtown South Precinct. Both girls were expected to be charged with shoplifting, CBS 2 reported.
The Medical Examiner’s Office was performing an autopsy on the baby, which was believed to be a boy.
Nearby residents told CBS 2′s Hazel Sanchez they were stunned by the news.
“It’s sad and it hurts because it’s still a life that was born, and now it’s gone,” said Esther Gross, of the Upper West Side.
“I have two daughters,” added Ivetzy Sosa of Washington Heights. “The youngest one is 18, and she would probably be terrified. But there’s so many things you could do. Leave it in a church. Go to the hospital and just say, I don’t want it,, which is not a good thing at all, but it’s better than doing this.”
Police were examining surveillance video from inside the store.
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