US President Barack Obama has invited a 14-year-old Muslim schoolboy, who was arrested after his homemade clock was mistaken for a bomb, to the White House, saying “we should inspire more kids like you.”
Ahmed Mohamed, a Sudanese-American engineering enthusiast, brought the digital clock, made from a pencil case, to his school in Irving, Texas on Monday to show it to his teacher who mistook the clock to be a bomb.
Hours later, he was handcuffed and arrested by school resource officers as part of “standard procedure”.
The incident has created an outrage in the country with messages of support pouring in from Obama, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
“Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White HouseIJ We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great,” Obama tweeted.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that Obama like many others were struck by these reports.