A 13-year-old boy in the United States was questioned by a Secret Service agent in his principal's office after warning President Barack Obama online to be careful of terrorists, news reports said Tuesday.
Vito LaPinta was called out of class Friday in Tacoma, Washington, to find a man in a suit waiting for him in the principal's office, the radio broadcaster Q14FOX reported.
"He said he was part of the Secret Service," Vito was quoted as saying. "He told me it was because of a post I made that indicated I was a threat toward the president."
In the post on the social-networking website Facebook, "I was saying how Osama was dead and for Obama to be careful because there could be suicide bombers," Vito said.
Vito's call for caution came after al-Qaeda founder and leader Osama bin Laden was killed May 2 by US special forces in Pakistan. The terrorist group has threatened revenge attacks.
"I was very scared," the boy said. The official brought the 30-minute interview to an end and told him he was not in trouble when his mother arrived after receiving a phone call from the school, DPA reported.
"I just about lost it," she was quoted as saying. "My 13-year-old son, who is a minor, who is supposed to be safe and secure in his classroom at school, is being interrogated without my knowledge or consent privately by the Secret Service."
"For me, it's not about what my son did or didn't do; it's the way they handled it because he's still a child," she said.