Testimony in Karmelo Anthony’s trial is ramping up and confirming that while there are many different versions of events that took place, the violence was out of nowhere.
Deadly Track Meet
Karmelo Anthony, 19, pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge in the death of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, who was stabbed at a Frisco, Texas, track meet in 2025. Anthony does not deny stabbing the victim, but argues it was in self-defense after being threatened and pushed.
The defendant and the victim went to different schools, and the teens who have testified described what “tent culture” at track meets is. Anthony’s school did not have a tent set up, but Metcalf’s did, and the defendant claims to have walked into the rival school’s tent to talk to a familiar face.
Memorial High School athletes, where Metcalf attended, said non-students were not allowed in their tent per their coach’s instructions. However, Anthony’s coach, Adam Linwood of Centennial High School, said the downtime at track meets was “social hour.”
“He just came outta nowhere, with no friends, outta the blue,” a Memorial High School athlete and eyewitness testified about Anthony’s popping into their tent. “Nobody prompted him to come to the tent.“
Defendant Asked to Leave Tent
Multiple eyewitnesses confirmed that Anthony was asked to leave the tent several minutes after he arrived. “We didn’t stand up and gang up on him,” one witness recalled. “I said, ‘Hey, you’re in our tent. You don’t need to be here.’”
“It wasn’t just Austin,” another teenager testified. “People, including myself, were saying for him to leave. I thought it’d get to minor pushing at most. I wasn’t worried about it.” In the end, Anthony was asked to leave more than 10 times, and he did not.
According to one of the witnesses, Anthony began cursing at the group, refusing to leave. “F— y’all. I’m not gonna leave. Y’all are a bunch of p—s, y’all aren’t gonna do nothing about it,” the defendant said.
The teens said Anthony had been provoking Metcalf, trying to lead him into a fight, but the victim said, “I’m not gonna fight you at a track meet, dude.“
Karmelo Anthony Stabs Fellow Athlete
What came next is what the eyewitnesses cannot fully agree on. Some say that Metcalf touched Anthony with one hand, another said that he pushed him with two hands, and another said he pushed him with one hand and grabbed his hoodie with the other.
One thing they do agree on, though, is the violence that ensued. They said Anthony reached into his backpack and pulled out a knife, plunging it into the victim’s chest. Paramedic Neal Adams, who responded to the scene, said the victim “was gray, no respirations; he did not have a pulse.”
Metcalf was pronounced dead at the scene after paramedics administered lifesaving procedures, but the victim “never regained consciousness.”
“The wound was two inches and gaping,” Dr. Elizabeth Ventura, Collin County’s Medical Examiner, testified on Saturday. “That wound is not survivable. The only way to survive a wound like that would be lying on the operating table with a surgeon ready to suture the wound…and even then it may not work.“
Defendant Immediately Arrested
Anthony was arrested at the scene by Officer Eduardo Cortez. “He didn’t talk. I hadn’t asked him any questions when I radioed out that I had the alleged suspect. He said, ‘I’m not alleged. I did it. He put his hands on me. I told him not to‘,” the officer testified.
Cortez said Anthony was emotional when he said, “He put his hands on me. I told him not to. He put his hands on me,” but prosecutors believe it was an act because it stopped immediately upon being placed into the back of the squad car.
Prosecutors rested their case on Saturday, concluding that Anthony had no reason to bring a knife or any other weapon to a track meet. Those items are already prohibited from school grounds and would not have been allowed under any circumstances.
Texas law reads that it is a crime to carry a knife over five and a half inches, so while Anthony was carrying one two inches below the limit, it was still a violation of school policy.
