Community remembers Suitland High senior killed before graduation in Upper Marlboro

Hundreds of family members, classmates and neighbors gathered in Upper Marlboro on Saturday to remember 17-year-old Amari Clarke, a Suitland High School senior whose death landed only 16 days before his June 1 graduation. In the middle of the grief, his mother made the plea that hung over the memorial: “Just stop the violence.”

For Clarke’s family, the loss was measured not only in the life cut short, but in the future that had already been mapped out. Tiana Clarke said her son was preparing to graduate from Suitland High School and had plans to attend trade school in Columbia, Maryland, where he hoped to train as an elevator technician. Those plans made the killing feel even more abrupt to the people who had watched him move toward adulthood.

Friends and relatives remembered Clarke as a student with a smile, humor and energy that could change the mood in a room. They said he was the kind of teenager who felt like a brother to the people closest to him, and the memorial became as much a gathering about public safety as it was about mourning. Prince George’s County Public Schools told families after his death that counseling support was available through school psychologists, professional school counselors and pupil personnel workers.

The killing itself remains a central part of the accountability question his family and classmates are asking. Local reporting identified Clarke’s death as a stabbing near his home in Hillcrest Heights, at or near the Marlow Towers Condominiums on St. Barnabas Road. As of May 10, police had not released a suspect description or motive. Prince George’s County Police were offering a $25,000 reward for information, pressing anyone with answers to come forward.

Clarke’s death also landed in a county that has said violent crime is falling overall, even as youth violence continues to shake families. County officials said total crime fell 16% in 2025 from the year before, violent crime fell 19% and murder fell 40%. Police said juvenile homicide victims dropped from nine in 2024 to five in 2025, and all five cases were closed. Earlier, county police said they were preparing a summer strategy built around data-driven patrols, community engagement, camps and redeploying officers into neighborhoods when school is out.

For Suitland families facing graduation season, those numbers do not erase the reality that one more senior will not walk across the stage. Clarke’s memorial turned that gap into a public demand for more than condolences, with his family and classmates insisting that preventing the next death has to be part of the county’s response.