Muslim teen who was arrested for clock mistaken for bomb says he’ll accept invite to White House, is looking for a new school
Nina Golgowski , Rachelle Blidner NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
A Muslim whiz kid says he’s taking his homemade clock to the White House—once police finally give it back.
Ahmed Mohamed, 14, who was arrested after his teachers in Irving, Texas mistook his digital invention for a bomb, told reporters Wednesday that he’ll be taking up President Obama’s offer to visit him next month.
The bespectacled teenager beamed while announcing his plans, which come two days after he was photographed being led out of MacArthur High School in his NASA T-shirt and handcuffs, inspiring nationwide concerns of Islamophobia.
Ahmed Mohamed, 14, is seen with his father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, during a press conference where he thanked his supporters following his arrest over a homemade clock.
“Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House?” President Obama tweeted out to him. “We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, NASA, Hillary Clinton and an MIT astrophysicist have also since reached out to him with several similar offers for him to pay them visits.
"Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I'd love to meet you," Zuckerberg wrote him.
FATHER OF MUSLIMKID ARRESTED FOR CLOCK IS STANDOUT CITIZEN
The lanky teen even received job leads and at least one internship—for when he's of age.
MIT astrophysicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, who teaches at Ahmed's dream school, and NASA engineer Bobak Ferdowski told him to give them a call in a few years, while Twitter asked him to contact them for a potential internship.
"We 💙 building things at @twitter too," their main handle tweeted him.
Ahmed said he's been suspended until Thursday but has no plans to go back and is looking to transfer schools. To "any different school," as he put it.
"I built a clock to impress my teacher but when I showed it to her she thought it was a threat to her so it was really sad that she took the wrong impression of it," he said.
Despite being taken as a teen terrorist, he said he doesn't care that the school and police department haven't apologized to him.
He instead said that the outpouring of support online has strengthened him, leaving him "definitely pleased."
The timepiece, he previously told the Dallas Morning News, was crafted after he was left with the feeling that "none of the teachers know what I can do" with technology.
His first period engineering teacher said, "that's really nice," before he warned, "I would advise you not to show any other teachers," according to Ahmed.
The high schooler waves while leaving his Texas home ahead of a press conference where he said he'll accept President Obama's offer to visit him.
Ahmed tucked the clock into his school bag, but its alarm went off in the middle of English class, forcing him to show his teacher what it was.
"She was like, it looks like a bomb," he said.
"I told her, 'It doesn't look like a bomb to me.'"
The teacher confiscated the clock before Ahmed was called into a meeting with the principal and five police officers.
One officer, who had never met Ahmed before, reportedly said, "Yup. That's who I thought it was," upon seeing the teen.
“They were like, ‘So you tried to make a bomb?’” Ahmed said.
All charges in the "naive accident" were dropped and the case has been closed, Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd said at a press conference Wednesday, noting "the reaction would have been the same regardless" of Ahmed's race or religion.
Vernon Bryant/AP
Ahmed Mohamed, 14, was detained for bringing a homemade clock to Irving MacArthur High in Irving, Tex.
"We live in an age where you can't take things like that to school," he said. "Of course we've seen across our country horrific things happen, so we have to err on the side of caution."
Earlier, police said it could have been mistaken as an explosive device, prompting them to weigh charges of making a hoax bomb.
His invention is now in a police evidence room.
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