By NBC News staff

Police are searching for the parents of a newborn baby girl found behind a building project in New York City.

According to the Associated Press, a passerby heard a baby crying at about 11:40 p.m. Sunday near the Woodside Houses, a city housing complex in Queens, and called police.

According to the New York Post, the infant was only one or two days old.

“I heard a baby crying and somebody yelling ‘there’s a baby behind the building,’” Essence Shepherd told the Post.

Discovered in a grassy area, the baby was wrapped in bath towels and sheets. She appeared to be in good health, the AP reported. Authorities took her to Elmhurst Hospital.

A hospital spokesperson told NBC News the baby weighs about 6 pounds and is healthy. The hospital will hold her for about 72 hours, and then release her in the care of the city’s Administration for Children’s Services.

Residents were shocked at the news.

“That is very cruel,” Audra Adams, a resident at the building project for the last 40 years, told the AP. “You couldn’t knock on somebody’s door or take the baby to a hospital or something? This was your only recourse? I hope they find her.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: usnews.nbcnews.com