A 14-year-old Muslim student of Irving ISD was arrested and detained on Monday because a teacher thought the home-made clock he brought to school to show off to engineering teachers was a bomb.
Fourth Estate Staff
Dallas, TX, United States (4E) – A 14-year-old Muslim student of Irving ISD was arrested and detained on Monday because a teacher thought the home-made clock he brought to school to show off to engineering teachers was a bomb.
Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for bringing “a hoax bomb” to MacArthur High School ( MHS ), not a clock, as he claimed it to be, Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd said in a press conference on Wednesday morning.
The clock, a pencil case with circuits inside, was not an explosive device but officers determined it was a hoax bomb prompting the arrest, Boyd said.
No charges will be filed against the boy and the case is considered closed, according to Boyd.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations learned the arrest of Mohamed and the story under the hashtag # IStandWithAhmed went viral on Twitter on Tuesday morning. Among those who tweeted support for the boy was former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“Assumptions and fear don’t keep us safe — they hold us back. Ahmed, stay curious and keep building,” Clinton’s tweet read, according to Dallas Morning News.
Mohamed’s photo of being handcuffed also circulated on social media.
Mohamed, who was brought to a juvenile detention center in handcuffs, was upset about what happened.
Officials with MHS suspended Mohamed for three days because of the incident.
