A 28-year-old woman was arrested Monday by the National Police on suspicion of abandoning her 2-year-old son inside a supermarket in Limpio, Central Department. The incident occurred at the establishment located in the Juan de Salazar neighborhood.
Security camera footage shows the woman entering the supermarket with the child and walking through the aisles. At one point, she enters a dressing room and does not return. The mother leaves the premises alone, while the boy remains seated in a shopping cart, unaccompanied.
Supermarket security personnel monitored the situation and alerted the National Police, who took the child into protective custody. The suspect was located shortly afterward and claimed she had left her son in the care of a friend, denying abandonment. However, the evidence, including the recordings, indicates she was responsible for leaving the boy alone.
“We activated the response protocol and first identified the family members. Then we located the mother. She claims the child was with a friend and that she did not abandon him, but the evidence points to her,” said the officer in charge of the incident.
The case was reported to the Public Prosecutor's Office, which ordered the detainee transferred to the 9th Police Station in Limpio, where she remains at the disposal of the courts. The identities of the mother and child were not disclosed, in compliance with Article 29 of the Children's Code, which prohibits publishing data that could identify minors who are victims or alleged perpetrators of infractions.