Overview
- The episode unfolded in Mugnano near Naples during the Christmas period, according to dpa reporting republished by DerWesten.de.
- A toy-shop owner contacted the Carabinieri after noticing the boy alone outside the store.
- The child's father separately filed a missing-person report when he could not find his son.
- The boy told officers he had run away to earn a few euros for a gift for his 3-year-old sister and was still in shock over his mother's recent death.
- Responding officers comforted him, bought presents from their own pockets, spent time with him, and brought him and the gifts back to his father.