Though he was much younger than his older brother, Cedric Clark was the one who gave better advice. He had a gift for saying the right thing.
"He was the one that talked sense into people," Anthony Lewis, Cedric's brother, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "And he was only 17. When he said he was going to do something for you, he did it."
On Thursday, Cedric's family, police and his Clayton County community struggled to make sense of his death. The 11th grader at Charles Drew High School was found shot to death behind a home where he didn't live. Cedric was the fifth young person between the ages of 11 and 17 to be killed by gunfire in the past month in Clayton.
If Cedric had enemies, his family didn’t know about them. When the teenager left home Tuesday evening with a friend, the two planned to walk to a convenience store to buy soft drinks, Lewis said. It was the last time Cedric’s family saw him alive.
Hours after Lewis and his girlfriend began searching, Cedric’s lifeless body was found behind a home about a mile away from his own. He had been shot to death, and by late Thursday, no arrests had been made.
Funeral plans were still pending Thursday for Cedric, who loved playing baseball. He hoped to play baseball in college and already gotten a letter of interest, Lewis said. If not college, Cedric planned to join the Air Force.
But even with his big plans, Cedric wanted to be close to his family, Lewis said. In July 2013, Lewis said he’d returned from a short trip when his brother requested he make a promise.
“He made me promise I’d never leave him,” Lewis said.
Now, Lewis will only have his brother’s memory.
A candlelight vigil was held Thursday night to honor Cedric.
About the Authors
