Texas teen who fatally stabbed track athlete at school meet found guilty
and sentenced to prison
[June 10, 2026]
By JAMIE STENGLE
MCKINNEY, Texas (AP) — A Texas teenager who fatally stabbed a
17-year-old track athlete from a rival team during a high school meet
was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison on Tuesday
in a case that drew wide attention beyond the booming Dallas suburb
where they were students. A jury rejected Karmelo Anthony’s claims of
self-defense during a confrontation with Austin Metcalf in stadium
bleachers last year. Most people who testified were students who
described a heated exchange over Anthony’s refusal on a rainy spring day
to leave a tent that belonged to Metcalf’s team.
Anthony, now 19, did not testify at trial and only his mother took the
stand during the sentencing phase, telling jurors her son was sorry.
Notoriety about the case spread, in part, because of a flood of social
media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is
Black; Metcalf was white. Lawyers on both sides, however, told jurors
that the tragedy had nothing to do with race.
Jeff Metcalf, Austin's father, had also denounced those who sought to
stoke racial divisions after his son was killed. A year later, he said
again in a Collin County courtroom that it was never about race while
his voice swelled with anger over the death of his son.
“You failed your parents, you failed yourself and you failed society,”
said Metcalf, looking at Anthony after the teenager was sentenced.
Jurors, who deliberated for less than three hours, had the option of a
lesser charge, manslaughter, but didn’t choose it.
Prosecutor Bill Wirskye had asked for a lengthy prison term.
“Mercy to the guilty,” he said, “is cruelty to the innocent.”
Earlier Tuesday, during the trial's closing arguments, the jury heard
dueling narratives from Wirskye and defense attorney Mike Howard about
what happened in April 2025.
Several schools were competing when Anthony sat under the Memorial High
School tent that was perched in the bleachers. Austin Metcalf and others
had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an
escalating confrontation.
Howard told jurors that Metcalf had “no legal right to put his hands on
Karmelo.”
“Texas law does not require that you wait until you get hit,” Howard
said. “In that split second of chaos, you must put yourself in his
shoes.”
During the nearly weeklong trial, prosecutors said that Anthony provoked
Metcalf, and witnesses have testified that Anthony was the aggressor.
“This is not self-defense, folks. It’s murder plain and simple,” Wirskye
said.
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A crowd gathers by Collin County Sheriffs vehicles parke in front of
the Collin County courthouse after the Karmelo Anthony verdict was
reached Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony
Gutierrez)
Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and replied: “Touch me and
see what happens,” according to a police report.
Metcalf pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony
then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest.
“You don’t get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you
provoke the shove,” Wirskye said.
The teens, both from Frisco, didn't know each other.
“He’s very sorry for what he did. Please, have mercy on my son,”
Anthony’s mother, Kala Hayes, pleaded to jurors shortly after the
verdict.
The trial drew lines of spectators hoping to find seats in the
gallery and unfolded amid heavy security at the Collin County
courthouse. As police officers watched Tuesday, dozens of people
stood outside the courthouse in 90 degree Fahrenheit heat (32
degrees Celsius) to await the verdict. There were wails of grief
from one woman — “This isn’t real!” — when the result became known.
Frisco is one of Texas’ fastest-growing cities and is dotted with
dozens of modern school campuses and gleaming athletic facilities.
The parents of Anthony and Metcalf have said they were good students
who planned to go to college.
Several students testified that Metcalf, after ordering Anthony to
leave his team’s tent, scoffed before Anthony reached into a bag and
pulled out a knife.
One teen recalled Metcalf telling Anthony, “You don’t have anything
in that backpack. It’s Frisco.”
____
Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this
report.
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