Teen who made clock ponders new school after suspension

Marjorie Owens and Todd Unger | WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth

Show Caption Hide Caption Muslim teen cuffed over clock gets White House invite Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old Texas high school student who was arrested over a clock mistaken for bomb, spoke out after police dropped the charges against him and thanked his supporters, including President Barack Obama.

IRVING, Texas — A Texas high school student who gained international attention after authorities mistook his clock invention for a bomb is thinking about transferring to another school.

Ahmed Mohamed's suspension from MacArthur High School ends Thursday, but at a news conference Wednesday, he said he plans to go to a private school.

"I really want to go to MIT," Ahmed, 14, said. "I'm thinking about transferring schools from MacArthur to any different school."

Ahmed also thanked all his supporters on social media — the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed was trending on Twitter on Wednesday.

"Thank you all for helping me," he said. "I would never have got this far if it wasn't for you guys. And not just you guys, everybody."

In a tweet Thursday, MIT said it was delighted Ahmed is interested in the school.

"Making things = inventing the future. We are delighted that Ahmed is interested in #STEM and in MIT! —President Reif"

Making things = inventing the future. We are delighted that Ahmed is interested in #STEM and in MIT! –President Reif pic.twitter.com/CEwAD8FLYk — MIT (@MIT) September 17, 2015

Irving police detained Ahmed on Monday after school officials called them because they determined his invention looked like a bomb. On Wednesday, the charges against Ahmed were dropped.

"(His English teacher was) concerned it was possibly the infrastructure for a bomb," said Irving police Chief Larry Boyd on Wednesday.

When questioned why he brought the device to school, the student "would only say it was a clock, and was not forthcoming at that time about any other details," Boyd said.

"I built the clock to impress my teacher," Ahmed said. "But when I showed it to her, she thought it was a threat to her. It was really sad that she took the wrong impression of it — and later that day, I was arrested for it."

The police chief said they decided to take the boy into custody based on the appearance of the device and as a safety precaution to protect other students. The freshman was handcuffed and transported to a juvenile processing area at the police station.

"Under Texas law, a person is guilty of possessing a hoax bomb if he possesses a device that is intended to cause anyone to be alarmed or a reaction of any type by law enforcement officers," Boyd said.

Ahmed was later released to his parents as police further investigated the incident. Boyd said a further probe revealed Ahmed didn't intend to create alarm and the charges against him were dropped. He also said officers later discovered there were some on campus who were aware of the student's invention, but that it wasn't part of a school project, to his knowledge.

The Dallas chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations had said Ahmed was targeted because of his religious and racial identity.

"The Irving Police Department has always experienced an outstanding relationship with our Muslim community," Boyd said.

To that end, Boyd spent part of Wednesday at the Islamic Center of Irving to discuss the incident.

"We had a very frank discussion about a variety of issues, but there was no anger, nothing like that," Boyd said.

The chief wouldn't say whether he had issued any apologies; he did say a planned meeting with the family "did not occur," but he declined to elaborate.

"We've got to look at this from a perspective of reviewing everything that occurred," Boyd said. "We haven't had a chance to do that yet."

Mosque leaders said they felt the meeting was productive, adding that they have a good relationship with Boyd stretching back years.

Lesley Weaver, a spokeswoman with Irving Independent School District, said the district would like to share further information about the incident, but can't without the permission of Ahmed's parents.

"Unfortunately, the information that has been made public to this point has been very unbalanced," Weaver said. "We would provide further factual information about the situation, however we feel it's very important to protect the student's right to privacy."

Ahmed received support on social media from President Obama to NASA to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. However, support closer to home was less forthcoming.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Irving May Beth Van Duyne said, "I do not fault the school or the police for looking into what they saw as a potential threat."

She made little mention of Ahmed, although her post was later amended to say she would be upset if her child had been arrested.

On Wednesday, she wouldn't say whether Ahmed or his family were due an apology from the city.

"We have a great police department. I'm very supportive of our Irving ISD," the mayor said. "I think for me to second guess right now would be unfortunate."

Van Duyne added that she hopes Ahmed continues his interest in engineering.

Contributing: Jason Whitely, WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth.