MCKINNEY, Texas — The trial of 18-year-old Karmelo Anthony continues today in Collin County, after last year’s fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf during a Frisco ISD track meet. 

Jury selection began Monday, June 1. A jury was seated Wednesday, June 3. Opening statements took place yesterday, followed by the state’s first witnesses. The trial is expected to last about two weeks. 

New to the case? Watch this overview.

WFAA will stream updates with analysis after the trial each day at 8 p.m. on our free streaming app WFAA+. Here’s how to download it for free. 

The timeline of the case begins April 2, 2025. See a full timeline of the case here.

Anthony, a former student at Frisco Centennial High School, is charged with murder in the April 2, 2025, killing of Metcalf, a student-athlete at Frisco Memorial High School.

Background: Who is Austin Metcalf? Who is Karmelo Anthony?

Investigators say that morning, at a track meet at Kuykendall Stadium, a confrontation began under a team tent where athletes gathered during inclement weather. It ended when Metcalf was stabbed in the chest. Anthony was arrested and has claimed self-defense.

The case quickly drew intense national attention, fueled by social media debate centered on the races of the two young men, public protests, online threats and allegations of doxxing involving people connected to the proceedings.  

Because Anthony was 17 at the time of the incident, Texas law allows him to be tried as an adult, and he faces a possible sentence ranging from five years to life in prison if convicted. Because the death did not meet the qualifications to be charged as a capital murder, and because of Anthony’s age, the death penalty was never an option in the case. 

Background: An explanation of Anthony’s possible sentence if convicted.

Security at the courthouse will be tight.

Judge John Roach Jr. has banned cameras, livestreams and audio recording inside the courtroom. He also designated a security perimeter around parts of the courthouse grounds barring the public — and potential demonstrators — from gathering in those areas. The judge has also issued a gag order limiting public comments about the case from attorneys, witnesses, investigators and others directly involved in the proceedings. 

With public seating limited, developments in the case will come from live reporting from inside the courtroom. WFAA has a team covering the case. Collin County reporter Jobin Panicker will be inside the courtroom each day, alongside a courtroom sketch artist. Senior crime and justice reporter Rebecca Lopez will also be at the courthouse each day, both in and out of the courtroom, chronicling case developments. WFAA has also arranged for a legal expert to sit in on the proceedings each day to help provide context and analysis on the WFAA+ daily evening wrap-up.

Background: A visual tour of the actual courtroom.

Day One: June 1, 2026 – jury selection begins

Day Two: June 3, 2026 – jury is selected

Day Three: June 4, 2026 – opening statements and testimony begins

Testimony resumed after the afternoon break.

Here’s a look at some of the artwork that veteran courtroom artist Pat Lopez has produced for this trial:

The state calls another young witness,  an 18-year-old man who graduated from Memorial. He was competing in the track meet.

He told jurors that he though it was “suspicious” that Anthony was near their tent. KA “came out of nowhere.”

He did not recall any conversations between Anthony and his friend who was in the Memorial HS track tent. The witness said when Austin Metcalf told Karmelo Anthony to leave the tent, Anthony “wasn’t going to budge.” 

This witness, like the last one, also recalled Metcalf telling Anthony “you don’t have anything in that backpack, it’s Frisco.” 

Anthony’s back was to the witness, so the witness said he did not see the stabbing. “It was so quick, I didn’t know what had happened,” he told jurors.

He also said Hunter Metcalf, Austin’s twin brother, was never part of the heated exchange. Prosecutor Bill Wirskye asked the witness “Did it look like Anthony wanted to pick a fight?” Answer: “Yes.”

Q: “Did it look like Austin Metcalf wanted to pick a fight?” Answer: “No”

The witness told jurors that the top of Anthony’s backpack was open, and Anthony had his right hand in there. “Does this look like self defense to you?” Wirskye asked. “No, sir”

Q: “Did Karmelo Anthony provoke Austin Metcalf?” “Yes, sir.”

On cross examination, defense attorney Mike Howard asked the witness if it was raining hard that day.

Howard approaches the witness with a transcript of a statement he had given. In it, the witness said Anthony had told a “joke.” 

The witness testified that Metcalf push on Anthony is a “lineman move,” an inward and upward motion. 

The state calls its first young witness. The judge has asked that none of the youths who testify be identified.

The witness, 17, was a track athlete at Memorial HS. “It was pouring down rain” at first, he told jurors, and that’s why the boys’ team return to the tent. He said he saw Anthony and another Memorial student “dap up” and greet each other. The witness said he told Anthony to leave the tent. He said he also remembers Austin Metcalf telling Anthony to leave. The witness heard Anthony say, “touch me and find out.” The witness testified Anthony was asked to leave the tent about 15 times. He said no one tried to “mob up on him.” The witness said there was “minor pushing” for a couple of minutes. 

He told jurors that Austin Metcalf and Karmelo Anthony both were “angry” and “aggressive.”

The witness said it didn’t seem like Metcalf wanted to fight. Anthony had his hand in a backpack in his lap. The witness told jurors he thought that was a “bluff” that Anthony had something in backpack. 

At some point, the witness said, “Austin leans in to push him and Karmelo stabs him.” The witness, asked to describe the push,  said it was not a light shove or a hard shove. “It was in between,” the witness said. Hunter Metcalf was at the bottom of the tent and not really involved, he said, adding that not many people were involved in the altercation.

The witness said Anthony stabbed Metcalf, who fell onto the bleachers on his back. He said Metcalf lifted up his own shirt and said “Oh my God.” 

The witness said Anthony was outside the tent during altercation.

Prosecutor Bill Wirskye asked the witness:

Q: “Did Austin deserve to get stabbed.” A: “No, sir”

Q: Was Austin Metcalf the “aggressor?” A: “No, sir.”

On cross examination, defense attorney Toby Shook questioned the witness if Anthony and a friend were outside the Memorial HS tent, “What is wrong with that?” The witness said because of the proximity to the tent.

The witness said Anthony was getting upset after he was told to leave. He said the back and forth only lasted two minutes, and reiterated that both Anthony and Metcalf were aggressive. The witness said when Anthony had his hand in his backpack and said “touch me and find out,” that it was a “threat.” 

The witness recalled Austin Metcalf telling Karmelo Anthony “We’re in Frisco, you don’t have anything in there.”

The witness said Metcalf pushed Anthony with two hands by his shoulders. “I did not see an object, I saw a motion,” the witness said. 

Shook asked the witness to recreate the stabbing. A chair is pushed to middle of courtroom. The witness stands in for Metcalf for the demonstration. Shook, playing Anthony, is sitting in a chair in the courtroom. The witness, from a standing position, leans in to push Shook, who is seated. The witness tells jurors that while Metcalf is leaned into Anthony during the push is when the stabbing happens. 

Stefani Martin, a criminalist with Frisco police, takes the stand. She was called out to the crime scene at 10:43 a.m. on April 2, 2025. She collected the pocket knife, clothing, and backpack, she told jurors.

She testified the blade is 3 1/2 inches long.

Inside Karmelo Anthony’s backpack were snacks, a hair pick, a phone cord, keys, and a cross necklace.

Jurors are shown pictures of Anthony’s gray sweatshirt with a small red stain.

On cross examination, defense attorney Mike Howard notes this client also had three pieces of paper with wordfinder puzzles, a vocabulary assignment, Cheez-Its and car keys. 

On cross examination, defense attorney Mike Howard confirms with Officer Schalz that the knife is a multitool. 

The prosecution is playing the body cam video of Officer Jacob Schalz.

It shows attempts to save Austin Metcalf’s life. In the background, you can hear kids crying “Oh My God, Oh my God. That’s my best friend! That’s my brother!” 

The video shows Joshua Rebmann, Liberty High School football coach, who testified yesterday, performing chest compressions on Metcalf. In the courtroom, Metcalf’s mother is crying, and his father has his head down. Neither is watching the video. 

On the body worn camera footage we can still hear kids in the background crying while Officer Schalz attempts to secure the scene and search for knife and backpack. Metcalf’s full body is visible.

On the video, someone yells out “I found it!” in reference to the knife. When the video ends, the courtroom is silent. WFAA reporter Rebecca Lopez said she saw a juror crying as the judge calls for a recess.

WFAA reporter Janel Forte, who is also covering the trial, filed this update earlier this morning:

The next witness is Jacob Shalz, another Frisco PD school resource officer.

He described the rain on April 2, 2025, the day of the stabbing, as “heavy to intermittent.”

He helped secure the crime scene, and collect evidence at the stadium that day.

“We were looking for a knife,” he told jurors. He said a school administrator spotted the knife, which was three to four rows from the crime tape. Schalz testified he also found Anthony’s blue Centennial HS backpack.

Jurors were shown pictures of the Memorial HS tent, and Anthony’s blue backpack eight to nine rows up.

They were then shown a picture of what’s described as a “folding knife.” It is shown sitting on the bleachers, partially open. It has a black blade and gray handle. Prosecutor Bill Wirskye pulled the knife out of an evidence box, and removed the backpack from an evidence bag. Both are entered into evidence.

Wirskye gives Schalz what’s described as an exact replica of the knife so that he can demonstrate to the jury how the knife’s action works. The blade, which has a thumb stud, opens quickly. The knife has a liner-lock mechanism.

The state’s next witness is Eduardo Cortez, a Frisco PD school resource officer, and former U.S. Marine. He was assigned to Staley Middle School, just south of Kuykendall Stadium, when he got “a stabbing call” over the radio. He told jurors he ran from the middle school to the stadium, where he saw crowd around the Memorial HS tent. 

He said he saw Karmelo Anthony on the other side of a fence, and they walked along the fence together. He said Anthony was cooperative. He told jurors he handcuffed Anthony and radioed “I have the alleged suspect detained.” Cortez testified that Anthony then said, “I am not alleged. I did it.” 

Cortez said Anthony told him, without being prompted, “He put his hands on me. I told him not to.” When he placed Anthony in a police car, Anthony asked if Austin Metcalf was OK, Cortez testified. He also said there was blood on Anthony’s middle finger.

Jurors are now being shown a surveillance camera video of the arrest. Cortez is shown walking down a steep grassy hill. Video shows Cortez begin to run around the stadium toward the Memorial tent. A student points out Anthony. Cortez and Anthony meet with the fence between them, then Cortez puts handcuffs on him and pats him down for weapons.

Cortez says it is no secret that weapons are not allowed at the stadium. Cortez agrees with prosecutor Bill Wirskye when asked if bringing in a weapon “is unprecedented and never encountered.”

Jurors, and the audience, are shown Cortez’s body camera video. The four-minute clip shows Cortez with Anthony, whose back is to the officer. Anthony has his hands up over head. The body cam shows them walking along the fence and Anthony being handcuffed. Cortez seats Anthony on the ground, then brings him to a police car.

As Anthony is being walked to the car, the video depicts him crying and saying “He put his hands on me.” About 30 seconds later Anthony is heard answering questions about his name and school and is not sobbing. 

On another officer’s body camera video, Anthony is heard on video saying “I am not alleged. I did it.”

Here is the scene before court today as people were lined up to get a seat inside the trial:

Jobin Panicker reports as testimony begins this morning:

The prosecution’s first witness today is Neil Adams, a firefighter and paramedic with the Frisco Fire Department. He responded to a call of a “stabbing at Kuykendall,” the Frisco ISD stadium where Austin Metcalf died.

He said the 911 call came at about 10:00 a.m., and it took about six or seven minutes to arrive on scene. He told jurors it was drizzling at the time. He told jurors he jumped a fence once he arrived, and rushed to the tent, where he found Metcalf. “There was no respiration,” Adams said. “He did not have a pulse.” Metcalf was moved from the bleachers to inside an ambulance, and despite life-saving measures being taken, Metcalf never regained consciousness, Adams testified.

WFAA’s Jobin Panicker filed this update on the competition to get a spot in line for the roughly two dozen publicly available seats in the courtroom.