The teenager who fatally stabbed a fellow student athlete at a Texas high school track meet was upset immediately after the confrontation and said he’d warned the victim “not to touch me," a witness testified on Monday.
Karmelo Anthony, now 19, is charged with murder in the death of Austin Metcalf, 17, at a school stadium in Frisco, a Dallas suburb, in April 2025. His murder trial has entered its second week.
Prosecutors say the stabbing was an unjustified attack related to a dispute over whether Anthony could be under the tent of Metcalf's team during a rainy track meet.
When Metcalf told Anthony that he needed to move, Anthony reached inside his bag and allegedly replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” the police report said.
Metcalf allegedly grabbed Anthony, who then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest, according to the report.
Defense attorneys insist Anthony felt threatened and believed he needed to defend himself when physical contact was made.
One of Anthony’s teammates, testifying Monday 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 widespread attention, in part because of social media posts that amplified the case in racial terms. Anthony, who attended Frisco Centennial High School, is Black, while Metcalf, who attended Frisco Memorial High School, was white.
Prosecutors rested their case Saturday 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.
Prosecutor Bill Wirskye told jurors it was a “senseless murder” and not a case of self-defense. He called it a “sneak, surprise attack” and said Anthony “knows he goaded the murder.”
“He didn’t want a fight,” Wirskye said of Metcalf.
Robert Starr, a track coach at Memorial High School, where Metcalf was a student and athlete, told jurors that a tent at a track competition “marks your spot” and is similar to a team bench in other sports.
“You just don’t go into someone else’s tent uninvited,” Starr testified.
Another area track coach, Vincent Hooper, testified that he put his arm around Anthony and asked what had happened.
Anthony replied that he stabbed someone who had "put his hands on me,” Hooper recalled.
The courtroom was packed again Monday with spectators, including Metcalf's parents and younger people. Anthony faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder.
