Prince George's court clerk carjacked at gunpoint near Woodmore Town Center

Prince George’s County’s elected circuit court clerk, Mahasin El Amin, was carjacked at gunpoint near Woodmore Town Center in Largo, a jarring turn for the official who oversees the county’s court records and administration. The attack put the county’s top court administrator in the role of victim, on a busy commercial strip near Route 202 where she briefly stopped her car to take a phone call.

El Amin said a man wearing a face mask and brown hoodie approached her vehicle, opened the door and threatened her with a gun. She said the encounter happened so quickly that she immediately realized she was being carjacked and feared for her life. The man ordered her out of the white 2014 Lexus IS 250 and drove away.

No arrest has been announced, and the car remained missing. El Amin described the encounter as the scariest moment of her life, saying that despite her work in the courthouse, nothing in her professional background prepared her for being on the receiving end of the kind of violent crime she helps oversee every day.

The case carries added weight because El Amin is not just any county employee. She has served as clerk of circuit court since Dec. 3, 2018, after first being elected in November 2018 and re-elected in November 2022. Her office is a constitutional post in Maryland and handles court records and court administration for Prince George’s County, giving her a highly visible role in one of the county’s core institutions. Candidate filing for the 2026 gubernatorial primary closed Feb. 24, putting a fresh spotlight on countywide offices and their incumbents.

Her comments also cut against the comfort of improving crime numbers. Prince George’s County health data listed a violent crime rate of 474.5 per 100,000 residents for 2023, and county police said in March 2025 that violent crime was down 32% and carjackings were down 58% in its weekly crime statistics update. County police also say its public dashboards reflect reported crimes in the department’s primary jurisdiction and can change as cases are investigated and reclassified.

Prince George’s County police says its Strategic Investigations Division includes a Carjacking Interdiction Unit that investigates all armed and unarmed carjackings in the county. El Amin’s experience showed how quickly those crimes can still reach residents in ordinary places, even at a time when officials point to falling numbers. The case now sits squarely inside the county’s public-safety debate, where progress on paper does not erase the fear of a gun at the car door.