Would you class this as a shutdown?

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Would you class this example as a shutdown? (This and similar situations arise from time to time)

We were at a new park the other day, and my 5 year old son, ran to play on the playground. Shortly after this, some family arrived and we moved about 5 feet to greet them. Not long after my son came running out, with a shocked look on his face, I asked him what was wrong but he wouldn't / couldn't respond, He didn't acknowledge the newly arrived family that he is usually so happy to see, about 5 minutes in and I could get a nod or the shake of his head, but still no speech in response to questions. I asked him if he was OK and he shook his head, I asked him if he was going to be OK and he nodded. 10 minutes or so later, his grandmother takes one of his favorite games (memory card game, he continually beats his 12 year old cousin, 24 pairs to 2 pairs) out of her bag while looking for something else, he sees this and is instantly back to normal, talking / acknowledging people and wanting them to play the game with him, about 2 hours later he casually says to me, "You know dad, I was upset before because I was playing and when I looked around where you were, I couldn't see you any more."

Normal 5 yr old behavior or possible shutdown?

That sounds like a fairly normal anxiety response. Not a shutdown. The introduction of the familiar game probably just wiped away the ungrounded feeling of being "lost".

My daughter has selective mutism. When it happens, she loses her ability to speak. There seems to be two different kinds for her. In one kind, she has indicated it feels like her brain and mouth are not connected and she cannot make her mouth speak. In the other kind, she says her throat feels like it clenches up and she can't speak. The first one seems to happen when she is overwhelmed in general, or if she is in a situation in which she has no reliable script. The second one seems to happen when she is upset.

She has had shutdowns before. When she has a shutdown, she gets a very spaced out look on her face and she stops moving on her own. You kind of have to guide her places. She seems notably out of it, and all of her responses seem delayed. If it is really bad, she literally just goes to sleep.

So for you son, it seems maybe more like an incident of selective mutism and less like an incident of shutdown. At least if my daughter's experience is typical, which I have no idea if it is or not.

This is a fairly accurate description, its almost as if his face becomes frozen and the lights are on, but nobody is home.
I could lead him where the family was now sitting, but he was still and unresponsive for about 5 minutes, before he gradually begins to respond with nods / shaking head but face still frozen. It's almost as if his system has rebooted and his mind / body is slowly coming online / booting up.