McKINNEY, Texas (Court TV) — Hundreds of people swarmed a Texas courthouse trying to get a seat inside as the trial of a teenager accused of killing another student at a school track meet began.
Karmelo Anthony, 19, is charged with the murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, who was stabbed at a track meet in Frisco, Texas, on April 2, 2025. Anthony has pleaded not guilty to the charges; his attorneys are arguing that he acted in self-defense.
Karmelo Anthony is charged with the murder of a 17-year-old at a track meet. (Collin County Jail)
More than 200 people were in line this morning at the Collin County Courthouse, hoping to get a seat for opening statements; only 27 spots were available for the public.
“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,” prosecutor Bill Wirskye said in his opening statement 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.”
Anthony had been at the tent belonging to Metcalf’s school when the attack occurred. Wirskye said that multiple people in the tent told Anthony he wasn’t allowed to be there and asked him to leave, to which the defendant allegedly responded, “Move me. Make me.” Metcalf, trying to be a leader, stepped up again to ask Anthony to leave, the prosecutor said.
“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.” Wirskye said that the victim didn’t realize he had been stabbed immediately, and lifted his shirt to reveal a “gaping wound to the heart.”
When other students followed Anthony and pointed him out to officers, he allegedly began pleading, “He touched me first.” When officers took Anthony into custody, Wirskye said, Anthony told them, “I’m not alleged. I did it. He touched me first,” without even being questioned.
Anthony’s defense attorney, Mike Howard, told the jury that a lot of the “noise” surrounding the case has been “completely false information.” He described the defendant as an “A” student with a 3.7 GPA, holding down two jobs, who was on the varsity track team at the time of the incident.
When Anthony arrived at the track meet, his attorney said, it began to rain; Anthony’s school was the only one at the event without a tent that day. Howard said that Anthony initially went to the other school’s tent to have a conversation with someone he recognized, when he was suddenly asked to leave by strangers who were much larger than he was.
“Self-defense is useless if you wait too late to use it,” Howard told the jury in his opening statement. “In that moment when Austin makes the first physical contact…[Anthony] reacts in a split second of fear and chaos.”
The jury was shown several angles of surveillance video that captured the stabbing, showing the entire incident, spanning from Metcalf’s arrival at the stadium to when Anthony was taken into custody, which lasted only about 15 minutes.
Judge John Roach Jr. has barred any cameras from the trial. Court TV’s Cody Thomas is in the courtroom and will have updates on the case throughout the trial.
