TX - Ahmed Mohamed, 14, creates clock, shows teachers, gets arrested, 14 Sep 2015

[katydid23]

Let us imagine that the clock was the detonator. Where were the explosives planted? I did not read that the school was evacuated. I did not see any explosives in the clock.

He was charged with a 'HOAX' bomb, not with a real bomb. It looked enough like a detonator to cause some concern. Why would it be in his backpack in English, and why would he plug it in an outlet? It sounds to me like he was looking for some attention since it was beeping.

 

[DexterMorgan]

I personally don't think it looks like a bomb but then I have zero experience with bombs.

Also on a side note I would like to thank yall for not bashing Texas since this is where it happened. I have seen so many hurtful things said about my state about this.

To tell you the truth Sporky. Texas is respected because they don't play around with the death penalty. So besides bs sites. Ws posters realize how Texas deserves the right to be respected. We are not huff post, fox, tmz or any other sites that allows comments.

We here at WS are willing to look beyond a possible agenda and give speculation on other various thoughts. Jmo

 

[katydid23]

Why not give Ahmed the benefit of the doubt?

Lots of others are, with offers of scholarships, internships and visits to the nation's capital.
Every intelligent Muslim kid is NOT tomorrow's terrorist. If we continue to think this way we are going to fragment a society that is still trying to heal the deep scars of yesterday's racism.

Why did he plug his beeping electronic clock into the wall during English class? It seems to me that he was trying to create some kind of confusion or concern. He did not need to call attention to it by plugging it in. It was not his Science class. In fact, his science teacher told him nOT to show it around.

It looks very much like a detonator. It does not matter if he is a Muslim. More school violence happens by white students than Muslim students.

 

[human]

I don't know. I am only going by what the officers said. Just like you were going on what the teachers said about the 7 yr old. :wink:

The thirty page document the lawyer filed is what I am going by

 

[katydid23]

Did he say it was a bomb?

No. But he plugged it into an outlet in the wall, while it was still in his backpack and it began beeping. His English teacher asked what it was and he showed her and she said it 'looks like a bomb.'

He said ' not to me it doesn't.'

That seems like a passive-aggressive answer given the urgency of the teacher's statement. He did not say' It is my science project for Mr. Doe's class.' or anything like that to quickly dispel her concerns.

 

[katydid23]

The thirty page document the lawyer filed is what I am going by

I imagine the school and the officers will have their documents as well.

 

[katydid23]

The thirty page document the lawyer filed is what I am going by

Do you have a link for that 30 page document?

 

[drjones]

I personally don't think it looks like a bomb but then I have zero experience with bombs.

Also on a side note I would like to thank yall for not bashing Texas since this is where it happened. I have seen so many hurtful things said about my state about this.

I have many years of experience with bombs and detonators with the Army Corps of Engineers, but if I understand this sites rules correctly I still have to make sure to say my comments are only my opinion unless I'm willing to get verified?

So, I guess it is my strong opinion that the device in question looks nothing like any real world bomb or detonator. I'm also not surprised that a school teacher or administrator might not be able to determine that and called for help. But the lengths to which this went after police were involved is troubling, in my opinion there are many logical failures that took place to allow them to state that they were convinced it was intentionally made to appear as a bomb.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

I have many years of experience with bombs and detonators with the Army Corps of Engineers, but if I understand this sites rules correctly I still have to make sure to say my comments are only my opinion unless I'm willing to get verified?

So, I guess it is my strong opinion that the device in question looks nothing like any real world bomb or detonator. I'm also not surprised that a school teacher or administrator might not be able to determine that and called for help. But the lengths to which this went after police were involved is troubling, in my opinion there are many logical failures that took place to allow them to state that they were convinced it was intentionally made to appear as a bomb.

BBM for focus.

Thank you. I am have not read up on this case as much I would prefer to have done before posting, had I had the time to do so, but I did read all the posts on this thread, which suggest to me that the teacher in this day and age might well have been justifiably suspicious of a ticking object in the classroom and expected to call for help in such a situation. A layperson could not be expected to determine whether the device was a bomb or not and is to be commended for putting safety first by reporting it.

But what happened after...that's where things broke down as I see it according to my self-admitted uninformed opinion. The kid was suspended for 3 days? Did it really take that long to determine the device was what he said it was?

 

[Sulamith]

No. But he plugged it into an outlet in the wall, while it was still in his backpack and it began beeping. His English teacher asked what it was and he showed her and she said it 'looks like a bomb.'

He said ' not to me it doesn't.'

That seems like a passive-aggressive answer given the urgency of the teacher's statement. He did not say' It is my science project for Mr. Doe's class.' or anything like that to quickly dispel her concerns.

Ahmed's clock was not a science project. I wonder how many parents of MacArthur High will sue because the school was not evacuated, leaving their children at ricsk of being blown up by a clock bomb. Time will tell.

 

[human]

Do you have a link for that 30 page document?

Yes. It is posted in the first reply I made

 

[Sulamith]

He was charged with a 'HOAX' bomb, not with a real bomb. It looked enough like a detonator to cause some concern. Why would it be in his backpack in English, and why would he plug it in an outlet? It sounds to me like he was looking for some attention since it was beeping.

BBM You want to see somebody looking for attention? Come to Texas, where I live. These guys are looking for attention. I own guns, but these guys are show boaters IMO. I would not feel safe around them. These people did not get arrested!



[video=youtube;LtUOopHPlMc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtUOopHPlMc[/video]



I am beginning to think I would be safer living in Mexico. MOO

 

[Confusion]

I have many years of experience with bombs and detonators with the Army Corps of Engineers, but if I understand this sites rules correctly I still have to make sure to say my comments are only my opinion unless I'm willing to get verified?

So, I guess it is my strong opinion that the device in question looks nothing like any real world bomb or detonator. I'm also not surprised that a school teacher or administrator might not be able to determine that and called for help. But the lengths to which this went after police were involved is troubling, in my opinion there are many logical failures that took place to allow them to state that they were convinced it was intentionally made to appear as a bomb.

I'll go with the other side of the coin... I've made digital clocks before as part of electronics projects, and I think it looks much more like a clock than a bomb. Most clocks don't look like that because they use etched circuit boards rather than wires, but they do the same thing.

MOO

 

[K_Z]

This entire story, in the way the media has presented it, just does not pass the “smell test” for me. Maybe I’m just too jaded, but this entire situation was conceived and designed to provoke “media and political theater”, IMO.

Yes, the teacher HAD TO report the situation and yes, the admin had to “handle it”, and contact police. And yes, of course, NOW it is apparent that this was just some kind of a faux “science project.” But this teenager is not completely innocent of intent, IMO. He is a bright young man, who, IMO, definitely knew that THIS “project” was provocative, in the way he chose to “package it” . His own words attest to that fact—that the way he chose to lock up the case was intended to be “less” scary (paraphrasing). That means he CLEARLY KNEW that it was worrisome in appearance.

IMO, he is an intelligent, smart alek teen, who decided to see what kind of reaction he could provoke in the teachers and admin—right down to the NASA t-shirt he wore. This is not a simpleton teen who innocently manufactured a “clock” to bring in for show and tell, IMO. He wanted a REACTION—and that is exactly what he got. This was entirely intentional and provocative, IMO. Typical bright kid stuff.

This kid, IMO, should not get an "invite" to the White House--good grief! Really?? For THIS behavior???

He didn't "win" the science fair! He wanted a reaction--and not an "atta boy" reaction. Geesh-- I'm kind of astonished at the level of piling on in the media wanting to make this a "racial" and ethnic issue. He's just a smart a$$ teenager-- not a victim, in any way, IMO. He WANTED this reaction, IMO.

He is WAY too smart to think bringing his "clock in a briefcase beeping" to English class was an innocent mistake, or a "show and tell" of his brilliance.

And he ALSO knows what his name is, and his ethnicity. He poked everyone with a very big stick to see what would happen.

He did this for precisely THIS reaction, IMO.

This kid, IMO, needs smarter parents who can stay a few steps ahead of him.

 

[drjones]

How exactly would one construe wearing a NASA t-shirt as being designed to provoke a reaction?

There was nothing like a briefcase involved, it was a small pencil case, something like 8x5 inches.

 

[jjenny]

I have many years of experience with bombs and detonators with the Army Corps of Engineers, but if I understand this sites rules correctly I still have to make sure to say my comments are only my opinion unless I'm willing to get verified?

So, I guess it is my strong opinion that the device in question looks nothing like any real world bomb or detonator. I'm also not surprised that a school teacher or administrator might not be able to determine that and called for help. But the lengths to which this went after police were involved is troubling, in my opinion there are many logical failures that took place to allow them to state that they were convinced it was intentionally made to appear as a bomb.

But you are an expert in bombs and detonators and his English teacher clearly is not. Should students be making strange looking things at home and then bringing them to class?

 

[drjones]

I totally agree jenny, it should have been confiscated and he should have been given a warning.

I have been hesitating to say this because I know it might sound lousy but - it isn't really an invention or anything difficult that he did. :X I bet a lot of kids that are into robotics and electronics are thinking "Why is this getting him praise?" today.

He basically just took a few screws out of an alarm clock and cut a hole in a pencil case and screwed the LCD panel to the case.

I dont know how that sounds, maybe the kid is really smart and inventive, I don't know. But it's just sort of odd the way people are talking about it. I think maybe people are under the impression that he made the circuit boards and soldered the wires and did everything from scrap or something.

lol hopefully that doesn't sound too catty!

 

[jjenny]

How was this clock suppose to work?
I don't see a face on it or hands or numbers .
The teacher was suppose to what pat him on the back?
I really happy to see someone at the White House still watches the news!

I think it has a digital display. Photo shows it from the inside, so the numbers (digital) will be on the outside of the box.

 

[jjenny]

I totally agree jenny, it should have been confiscated and he should have been given a warning.

I have been hesitating to say this because I know it might sound lousy but - it isn't really an invention or anything difficult that he did. :X I bet a lot of kids that are into robotics and electronics are thinking "Why is this getting him praise?" today.

He basically just took a few screws out of an alarm clock and cut a hole in a pencil case and screwed the LCD panel to the case.

I dont know how that sounds, maybe the kid is really smart and inventive, I don't know. But it's just sort of odd the way people are talking about it. I think maybe people are under the impression that he made the circuit boards and soldered the wires and did everything from scrap or something.

lol hopefully that doesn't sound too catty!

The clock has already been invented, as we all know. But this is getting so much attention, you'd think the kid actually invented something. And why would the kid think it was going to impress his English teacher? If you want to impress an English teacher, write a poem or something like that.

 

[drjones]

He did originally show it to his engineering teacher whose class he took.

The fact that he willingly took it out and showed it to a teacher makes me think he did not intend to cause any uproar, he may have been aware that it was controversial I dont know, but I dont think he thought anyone would be alarmed by it (ooo punny). At least I dont see any evidence for that.