Reporter spots missing 10-year-old boy while reporting on his disappearance

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On Friday morning, WFTS-TV reporter Cameron Polom, 29, and a cameraman arrived at a Tampa neighbourhood to report on the story of a local 10-year-old boy who had gone missing the day before.

Paul Ezekial Fagan had last been seen playing outside the home he shares with his grandmother, Hazel Epps, on Thursday afternoon. When Epps went to check on him, he was gone. After friends and family searched the area for four hours, Paul’s grandmother called the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and reported her grandson missing.

Police launched an overnight search effort, which included sheriff’s dogs and helicopters. A rainstorm, however, thwarted their searching.

The next morning, police held a news conference about the still-missing boy.

Shortly after Polom arrived at Paul’s neighbourhood, he spotted a muddy little boy climbing out of some overgrown bushes behind a fence.

“He’s looking at me and I’m thinking, ‘Could this possibly be this kid? Is this really happening?’ It was a very surreal moment,” Polom told TODAY.com on Monday.

Polom called out to the boy and asked him his name. Sure enough, it was Paul.

"I said, ‘Have you been missing?’ I said, ‘Come here, buddy, and I just picked him up and I said would you mind if I lift you up?’" Polom told ABC Action News.

"And I just said, ‘Come with me.’ I just held his hand and walked him over to you guys. It’s crazy."

Polom walked with Paul to some nearby sheriff’s deputies, who then walked Paul to his grandmother’s house, where tearful family members ran to the boy and hugged him.

"There was a sense of relief from everybody there, all the journalists, all the investigators. And seeing the family respond the way they did, it was awesome,” Polom said.

Paul was unharmed after wandering around the neighbourhood overnight, said Debbie Carter, a public information officer for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Paul told Polom that he originally left home because he wanted some space from his ever-present little brother.

Paul’s family told ABC Action News that Paul has a mild learning disability but has never gone missing before.

Polom spent some time chatting with Paul after the boy had been reunited with his family. Polom believes that Paul was scared he was going to get in trouble for running away. The increased police presence probably intimidated him from stepping forward and identifying himself earlier.

“Look, I’m not a guy who’s walking around with a gun on my hip. I don’t have a badge on my chest. Maybe he just wasn’t afraid to come up to me,” Polom said.

The happy reunion was played out again a few hours later when Paul’s father arrived on the scene.

"It’s like a wonderful joy, like your son first being born," Paul’s father told WFTS of being reunited with his son.

In a similar incident last May, a missing Maine man approached a news crew while a reporter was giving a live update on his disappearance.

Watch that incredible moment below:

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