In the hours since the story of Ahmed Mohamed went viral on social media, Irving, Texas police have said that they will not charge the 14-year-old with making a hoax bomb.
Earlier today, Ahmed told his story to the Dallas Morning News. He said he took a homemade clock to school, which was mistaken for a bomb. Even though he told police repeatedly that it was only a clock, he was still arrested and suspended from school for three days.
The story went viral this morning, with people tweeting #IStandWithAhmed. It all meant that police had to quickly come to a decision.
The Morning News reports that Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd confirmed that Ahmed will not be charged with making a “hoax bomb.”
“The follow-up investigation revealed the device apparently was a homemade experiment, and there's no evidence to support the perception he intended to create alarm,” Boyd said. He then added that he has had an “outstanding relationship” with the city’s Muslim community and will meet with Ahmed’s father today. He also said that the reaction would have been the same, even if Ahmed was not a Muslim.
“We live in an age where you can't take things like that to school,” Boyd told the media. “Of course we've seen across our country horrific things happen, so we have to err on the side of caution.”
Ahmed’s story caused such a national uproar on Twitter today that President Barack Obama even invited the high school student to the White House.
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.
— President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015
screenshot from Dallas Morning News YouTube video
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