Witnesses Shred Karmelo Anthony’s Self-Defense Story in Teen Murder Trial

Karmelo Anthony suffered a major setback Friday as a string of young eyewitnesses directly contradicted his claim that he stabbed Austin Metcalf in self-defense during a track meet confrontation.

The 19-year-old is on trial for murder in a packed Collin County courtroom near Dallas. His lawyers opened the case Thursday by insisting Anthony never started the fight and acted only out of fear for his life. But testimony from multiple teenagers—many of them teammates or students who were under the same tent that afternoon—painted a very different picture.

One 17-year-old on Metcalf’s Memorial High School track team told jurors that Anthony was repeatedly told to leave the team tent—roughly 15 times by Metcalf and others. The witness said Anthony refused, grew aggressive, and warned, “Touch me and find out.” No one ganged up on him, the teen testified, and he never expected real violence—just “minor pushing at most.” When Metcalf finally gave Anthony a shove somewhere between light and hard, Anthony responded by stabbing him, then tossed the knife up the bleachers and fled. Metcalf collapsed onto the bleachers, stood up bleeding heavily from the chest, leaned against a fence, and said, “Oh my god,” according to the witness, who called 911 and was heard on the recording saying his friend was “bleeding everywhere.”

A second teammate described Anthony as someone who seemed to want a fight. He said Metcalf initially asked Anthony to leave calmly, but the exchange quickly turned serious. The teen testified that Anthony wasn’t even looking at Metcalf and appeared to already know what he was going to do. The stabbing happened so fast that the witness, sitting right next to Anthony, didn’t immediately realize it had occurred and was left in shock.

Other students under the tent echoed the same account. One said the entire situation could have ended peacefully if Anthony had simply left, but instead it escalated into a stabbing. Another recalled Anthony trying to provoke Metcalf, who replied, “I’m not going to fight you at a track meet, dude,” and even demonstrated the push for the jury. A recent Liberty High School graduate whose team tent was next door said she heard Anthony tell Metcalf, “If you wanted me to move, you would have to move me.” She felt a fight was coming but insisted Metcalf did not want one. Moments later she heard a noise and saw Metcalf stabbed in the chest. She became emotional on the stand as she described Memorial students running away in tears. The teen also made clear the incident had nothing to do with race.

A sixth teenage witness said Anthony warned Metcalf, “Touch me and see what happens,” and that he himself had urged Metcalf not to touch him. He noticed a vein bulging in Anthony’s arm and saw him appear to grab something inside his backpack. The witness described Metcalf as the bigger teen who tried to handle the situation nicely. He added that, as far as he knew, the two boys had never met or competed against each other before that day. “I was in disbelief,” he said.

Court rules prevented media from naming the minor witnesses.

As the day ended, Anthony was seen laughing and joking with his attorneys, even tossing a water bottle around the defense table while the courtroom cleared.

The trial, expected to last about two weeks, will continue Saturday morning.

Outside the case itself, tensions ran high at the courthouse. At least three people were removed before proceedings began: one woman who argued with a deputy, a North Carolina blogger accused of using a racial slur toward an officer, and another person caught violating the ban on cell phones and recording.

The stabbing occurred in April 2025 at a high-school track meet in Frisco, Texas, after a dispute over seating under a team tent. Prosecutors call it an unprovoked “sneak attack.” Anthony, who was 17 at the time, maintains he feared for his safety when Metcalf pushed him first.

The case has drawn intense public attention, including racially charged protests calling for Anthony to be released. A jury of 12 people plus six alternates was seated earlier this week after questioning roughly 600 potential jurors; none of the final jurors are Black.