An infant girl has died after being abandoned outside of Chicago high-rise Wednesday night.

Just before midnight, a man was heading to the Eastwood Shores apartment complex in Uptown’s 800 block of West Eastwood when he thought he saw a naked baby lying on a nearby patch of grass.

He told the apartment building’s security guard he thought his mind was playing tricks on him – but upon further investigation, police found the infant was in fact real and had been left out in the cold.

Still alive, the young girl was rushed to Weiss Memorial Hospital, just one block from where she was discovered, in critical condition. She was soon after pronounced dead.

Thursday morning Chicago Police could be seen taking photographs and searching for evidence in the area for the ongoing death investigation.

“I'm astounded,” said Niakema Thomas, who works nearby. “My daughter goes here to daycare, it's a nice facility... and I would never think that someone would actually leave their baby here."

The fact that a hospital was so close to where the baby was left, during a night of horrific Chicago weather, made for even more heartbreak throughout the neighborhood.

"The hospital's right here,” said Eastwood Shores resident Alice Nelson. "If you were going to put the baby down... Another block wouldn't have made too much difference..."