Hundreds of Texans surrounded the courthouse doors, fighting for a seat inside the courtroom to hear opening statements in the trial of a teenager charged with the murder of another student who was stabbed at a school track meet.
Deadly Track Meet
Karmelo Anthony, 19, is charged with murder in connection with 17-year-old Austin Metcalf’s untimely death. The community was outraged after hearing about the incident, and it only worsened when the defendant was released on bail shortly after his arrest. The defense argues the stabbing was in self-defense.
The two students were attending the same track meet in Frisco, Texas, on April 2, 2025. Anthony entered a tent that belonged to Metcalf’s school. Prosecutor Bill Wirskye quickly ran through the series of events that led to the stabbing.
Multiple people inside the tent asked Anthony to leave, informing him he was not allowed to be there, Wirskye said. “Move me. Make me,” the defendant responded, which is considered instigation and not a good argument for self-defense.
Prosecutor Makes Opening Statements
“Karmelo taunted him until Metcalf took the bait as a young man, and went to push him,” Wirskye said. “As soon as the stabbing happens, Karmelo takes off running fast at first and then slows down and tries to blend in and slip out the front gate.”
The victim was unaware he had been stabbed until lifting his shirt to reveal a “gaping wound to the heart.”
“We are all here because Karmelo Anthony decided to take a knife to a high school track meet and provoke another young man who he didn’t know into touching him,” Wirskye explained to the jury. “This man decided to commit an unjustified, provoked murder. This case has nothing to do with race; this is not self-defense.”
After the stabbing, Anthony immediately claimed self-defense, saying, “He touched me first,” when confronted by police officers. The defendant admitted he did it without prompting, but continued to say he was touched first.
Karmelo Anthony’s Version of Events
Defense attorney Mike Howard explained during opening statements that the “noise” that has circulated about who Anthony is as an individual is “completely false information.”The defendant is described as a star student with a high GPA, two jobs, and running for the varsity track team at the time of the stabbing.
According to Howard, it started raining at the track meet, and Anthony’s school happened to be the only one without a tent. He said the defendant entered the tent at Metcalf’s school to talk to someone he recognized, but he was met by strangers much larger than he was, who told him to leave.
“Self-defense is useless if you wait too late to use it,” Howard told the jury. “In that moment when Austin makes the first physical contact…[Anthony] reacts in a split second of fear and chaos.”
First Expert Witness
The jury watched several different angles of surveillance footage that showed the stabbing, the events before and after, spanning from when Metcalf arrived at the track meet and when Anthony was taken into police custody.
Following the video footage, Howard called upon Tarrant County’s forensic video analyst, Mark Porter, to address what was shown to the jury. The prosecutor went clip by clip and began his questioning with the quality of the videos. Once Porter confirmed it was high-quality footage, the prosecutor moved on to more and showed a few images
Trial Continues
Judge John Roach Jr. prevented any cameras in the courtroom, including news crews and other community members. Also, when announcing the court’s morning break today at 10:30 am, he was forced to ask those talking during the trial not to return. The trial will continue on Friday.
