Obama invites teen to White House after arrest for ‘bomb’
President says kids like Ahmed Mohamed, whose teacher thought a clock he built looked like a bomb, are 'what makes America great'
US President Barack Obama on Wednesday invited to the White House a Muslim teen from Texas who was arrested after building a clock that “looked like a bomb” for a high school science fair.
Ahmed Mohamed was detained earlier Wednesday by police at MacArthur High School in the Dallas suburb of Irving after a teacher decided that a homemade clock he proudly brought to class looked like a bomb.
He was later released without charges.
Using his official Twitter account, Obama wrote, “Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.”
Mohamed will not be charged with possessing a hoax bomb because there’s no evidence the 14-year-old meant to cause alarm Monday at the school, according to police Chief Larry Boyd.
Ahmed’s family said the boy — who told the Dallas Morning News that he makes his own radios, repairs his own go-kart and on Sunday spent about 20 minutes before bedtime assembling a clock using a circuit board, power supply and other items — was suspended for three days after taking the clock to class. His father suggested officials reacted as they did because of the boy’s name and faith.
“He just wants to invent good things for mankind,” Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, told the newspaper. “But because his name is Mohamed and because of September 11, I think my son got mistreated.”
Boyd said Wednesday that the clock Ahmed built looked “suspicious in nature.”
School district spokeswoman Lesley Weaver on Wednesday declined to confirm Ahmed’s suspension, citing privacy laws, but said officials were concerned with student safety rather than the boy’s faith.
“We were doing everything with an abundance of caution,” Weaver said.
On Monday, Ahmed showed the clock to his engineering teacher and then another teacher, after the clock, which was in his backpack, beeped during class. The second teacher told him that it looked like a bomb, the newspaper reported.
Ahmed was later pulled from class and brought before the principal and police officers for questioning, then handcuffed as he was led out of the school.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it was reviewing the matter.