Family mourning after 17-year-old son stabbed to death outside home weeks before graduation

Amari Clarke was set to graduate on June 1 and go off to trade school.

A Prince George’s County teen has died, and his family is searching for not only answers, but also the individual or individuals who may have played a role in the teen’s death.

17-year-old Amari Clarke, a senior at Suitland High School in Maryland, was stabbed to death outside of his home on Friday (May 8). The teen, who planned to attend trade school after graduating on June 1 to become an elevator technician, was the “sweetest,” according to his grandmother.

“He had a kind heart. Sweetest boy you’ve ever seen,” she told Fox 5 DC.

Clarke’s stepfather mourned him, saying the young man should still be here.

“I lost a 17-year-old. And that shouldn’t happen to no 17-year-old,” he said. “At the end of the day, whoever did this, they need to be brought to justice and be prosecuted to the fullest extent, because no one should lose their life over a senseless argument.”

Clarke was stabbed outside of the Marlow Towers Condominiums on St. Barnabas Road in Hillcrest Heights. According to Clarke’s family, the suspect took his phone and his shoes before running off. A witness said Clarke and the individual had gotten into an altercation and that a man was attacking Amari while he was on the ground.

“He was down on one knee, and he had his fist and he was just beating him real fast, and just punching and punching and punching real fast,” the woman said. Another witness to the fight called for the man to stop.

No suspects have been arrested in the case and the Prince George’s County Police Department is asking anyone with information related to Clarke’s death to contact them. Witnesss said the suspect invovled was wearing a yellow shirt.

Clarke’s death is the second tragedy to befall PG County in recent days. On Thursday, a four-year-old girl fell from the 10th floor of a high-rise apartment building located on Cherry Hill Road. She would later die from her injuries.

The incident, which occurred at the Seven Springs Apartments, was the third time a child had fallen out of a window at the complex in less than a year. Last November, a 2-year-old fell from a sixth-floor window and last August, a three-year-old fell from a balcony on the same floor. Both children survived their injuries.