In first two days of testimony, witnesses describe Frisco track-meet stabbing
During the first two days of trial in the Frisco track-meet stabbing case this week, witnesses testified about the moments surrounding the death of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, according to reporters present in the courtroom.
Karmelo Anthony, who was also 17 at the time, is accused of stabbing Metcalf at the April 2025 track meet.
Witnesses called by the state so far include Frisco ISD coaches and athletic staff, students who were present at the track meet, and school resource officers with the Frisco Police Department.
The jury, seated earlier this week, consists of 12 jurors and six alternates, none of whom are Black, the Star-Telegram previously reported. The final three Black candidates in the jury pool were excused after the judge sided with prosecutors, whose “race-neutral” reason for striking the potential jurors was that they were all educators.
First on the stand on Thursday was Mark Porter, who works as a forensic video analyst with the Tarrant County district attorney’s office, according to Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV.
Porter presented his analysis of security footage from inside Kuykendall Stadium, which was at times unclear due to the rainy weather on the day of the stabbing, and because footage had to be magnified to be clearly visible, according to WFAA’s Jobin Panicker. On cross-examination, Porter told defense attorney Toby Shook that footage doesn’t show when the altercation between Metcalf and Anthony begins or ends.
Memorial High School’s head track coach Robert Starr, who coached Metcalf, testified about the day of the meet, Panicker said.
Memorial High School was hosting the meet on April 2, and Starr asked several of the team’s upperclassmen, including Metcalf, to “step up and be leaders” that day. Starr also testified that students had to sign a code of conduct form that included a prohibition on bringing weapons to the meet.
When Starr went to check on things after the uproar underneath the team’s tent, he saw Metcalf “on the ground and his face is purple and there’s a big hole in his chest,” he told the court. Starr said he approached Anthony and asked him what he had done, to which Anthony replied, “[Metcalf] put his hands on me.”
“I just knew Austin was gone,” the coach said to jurors.
Starr read aloud a text message he sent to Metcalf’s phone the day after he died, Panicker reported.
“Love you man,” it read. “Sorry I didn’t say enough.”
On Friday, six teenagers took the stand, including Metcalf’s teammates and other witnesses, to testify about what happened underneath the Memorial High School tent that day, according to KDFW-TV.
Teammates testified that they told Anthony several times that he probably shouldn’t be under the Memorial tent and should leave, and that things got heated from there, according to KDFW. One student testified that no one tried to “gang up” on Anthony, and described the physical action as “minor pushing at most.”
That student identified Anthony as the aggressor in the situation, and told jurors Anthony had his hand in a backpack on his lap before he pulled out the knife he used to stab Metcalf. Other students thought Anthony “was bluffing” by having his hand in the bag and wouldn’t actually do anything.
Another student testified that he heard Metcalf tell Anthony something to the effect of “I’m not going to fight you at a track meet.”
The trial will resume at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.
This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 10:05 PM.
