By Jamie Stengle
Contributing Writer
MCKINNEY, Texas (AP) — A Black teenager who fatally stabbed a white competitor at a Texas high school track meet was upset immediately after the confrontation and said he had warned the victim “not to touch me,” a witness testified June 8 as a trial entered a second week.
Karmelo Anthony, now 19, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Austin Metcalf, 17, at a school stadium in Frisco, a Dallas suburb, in April 2025.
Prosecutors say the stabbing was an unjustified attack related to a dispute over whether Anthony — a high school student at Frisco Centennial — could be under the tent of Metcalf’s team from Frisco Memorial during a weather delay at a track meet.
Defense attorneys insist Anthony felt threatened and believed he needed to defend himself when physical contact was made. If convicted by the all-white jury in Texas, Anthony could be sentenced to life in prison.
One of Anthony’s teammates, testifying for the defense, said Anthony was “distraught” after the stabbing.
“I was hearing him say, ‘I told him not to touch me,’” the witness said.
Judge John Roach Jr. has said young witnesses can’t be publicly identified.
Metcalf’s death drew wide attention, in part because of social media posts that amplified the case in racial terms.
Prosecutors rested their case June 6 in Collin County court. Jurors last week heard from a number of people who were at the track meet, including students who said Anthony had been asked to leave the tent and was the aggressor in the confrontation.
The courtroom was packed again June 8 with spectators, including the parents of Anthony and Metcalf, and younger people.
Jamie Stengle writes for the Associated Press.
