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A high school track meet in Texas turned deadly after two young men got into a heated altercation.
NBC says the event occurred Wednesday morning when students from about eight area high schools gathered for a track and field championship at Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
When speaking to the victim’s dad, Jeff, he explains that his son, Austin Metcalf, an 11th-grader at Memorial High School, was in his team’s tent arguing with a Frisco Centennial High School student named Karmelo Anthony. Anthony was reportedly sitting in a spot he wasn’t supposed to be, but when Metcalf told him to move, Anthony refused and responded to the request by allegedly stabbing Metcalf in the heart.
Metcalf’s twin brother was nearby when the attack happened and tried to save him by putting pressure on the wound. The Frisco police department sent out a press release saying that they transported him to a hospital and also tried to administer CPR and blood, but he later died.
Officials now say that they’ve got Anthony behind bars and he’s been charged with murder.
“The suspect, identified as 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony of Frisco, is in custody and there is no further threat to the public. He has been charged with Murder, a 1st Degree Felony. No bond has been set at this time,” the statement reads.
Police are also working with the Frisco Independent School District to provide proper support to those close to the victim and are urging anyone with tips to contact them.
Metcalf’s father tells NBC he is still in shock over how the incident turned so violent.
“I’m not trying to judge, but what kind of parents did this child have? What was he taught? He brought a knife to a track meet and he murdered my son by stabbing him in the heart. The guy was in the wrong place and they asked him to move and he bowed up. This is murder,” Metcalf said. “You know what, I already forgive this person. Already. God takes care of things. God is going to take care of me. God is going to take care of my family.”
In speaking to ABC News, Anthony’s father said the family will release a statement in the coming days and is currently trying to secure a lawyer.
Anthony’s arrest led to his mugshot going public, and since he’s Black and Metcalf was white, a race debate demonizing Black men was ignited on social media, despite Metcalf’s father pleading with everyone to quit using the divisive tactics.
“This was not a race thing. This is not a political thing,” Jeff Metcalf told Fox’s America Reports. “Do not politicize this. This is a human being thing. This person made a bad choice and affected both his family and my family forever.”
See how social media is reacting to the controversy below.
