Fake bomb prom-posal blows up in Wash. student's face

LA CENTER, Wash., April 23 (UPI) -- A Washington state high school student who wore a fake bomb to ask a girl to prom had the prom-posal blow up in his face when he was suspended from school.

Ibrahim Ahmad, 18, was suspended for five days from La Center High School after he donned a paintball vest loaded with fake explosives -- paper tubes attached to red wires -- and stood up in the school's cafeteria with a sign reading, "I kno it's A little Late, But I'm kinda...THE BOMB! Rilea, Will U Be My Date To Prom?"

Ahmad said his intended date, Rilea Wolfe, accepted his prom-posal, but he was soon told by administrators that he was being suspended for five days and would not be allowed to attend the dance.

"I'm Middle Eastern, and I thought the bomb was kind of funny and clever," he told The Columbian newspaper. "I wasn't wearing the vest for more than, like, 20 seconds. I asked her, took a picture, took it off, and then the school got upset."

"It didn't even look like a bomb," Ahmad told KPTV.

A cellphone video of the prom-posal showed students appeared amused by the display, but Superintendent Mark Mansell said Ahmad needed to be punished for disrupting the learning environment.

"To me, it's just blatant disrespect," he said. "The student knew that the principal wouldn't support this and he went ahead and did it anyway."

Ahmad said he believes administrators overreacted and his race may have influenced their decision.

"It was really unfair, and it kind of felt racist," Ahmad said. "If anyone else did that, I feel like no one else would have gotten in trouble for it."

Ahmad said he and Wolfe will likely go out on a dinner date in lieu of the dance.