Father of Frisco track meet stabbing victim remembers final moments with son, questions safety measures

KTVT, FAMILY PHOTOS, FRISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT, CNN

By J.D. Miles, Amelia Mugavero

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    FRISCO, Texas (KTVT) — Students inside a Frisco high school paid tribute Thursday to a classmate who died Wednesday after being stabbed during a track and field event.

Austin Metcalf’s family continues to grieve but is also raising questions. The day after the violent attack, members of the victim’s family wonder whether more could have been done to prevent what happened.

Frisco Independent School District said it had five certified athletic trainers on-site, all involved in the response to the stabbing at the stadium.

Austin Metcalf’s father recounts son’s final moments The photos of Austin Metcalf that hang in his home are now all Jeff Metcalf has to remind him of one of his twin sons, the father said. But he said he found some comfort from a dream.

“He came to me and said, ‘It’s OK,'”Jeff Metcalf said recounting his dream. “God gives me comfort and if it wasn’t for my faith I wouldn’t be here.”

Metcalf spoke to CBS News Texas while still in shock over what happened just a mile away at the stadium where Austin Metcalf’s twin brother Hunter saw his twin stabbed in the chest.

“My other son, who was there, I was holding his hands on the hole trying to save his life,” Jeff Metcalf said. “He told me, I looked at him, his eyes — he was gone, he wasn’t breathing.”

Hundreds filled a Frisco church Wednesday night to remember Austin Metcalf, a standout on the Memorial High School football team.

Who is Karmelo Anthony? Karmelo Anthony has been arrested and charged with murder, also a student-athlete at Centennial High School.

The victim’s father grieves while starting to question whether the school district did enough to protect his son.

“If there’s a precedent or some precursor that may be this could’ve been prevented, I don’t know,” Jeff Metcalf said. “I am concerned with the lack of security. How does someone bring a knife to a track meet?”

Police have not said what led to the stabbing, but Austin Metcalf’s father said it started when his sons and members of the Memorial High track team questioned Anthony about why he was standing near them instead of his own school’s team.

“Each high school had their own section to sit and they went to set up the Memorial tent, they heard this individual behind them speaking and they turned around and said, ‘Who are you,’ and he said, ‘I’m mellow,’ And he had a Centennial tracksuit on they said, ‘You’re in the wrong spot, you need to go sit with your team,’ and then it escalated.”

As of Thursday, CBS News Texas was told at that Anthony remained in the Frisco City Jail facing a first-degree murder charge with a $1,000,000 bond.

“As a 17-year-old, he’ll be tried as an adult. My assumption is, there are plenty of witnesses,” Philip Linder, a North Texas criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, said. “If there is no evidence of the young man who died having a deadly weapon, or threatening to do serious harm to this kid, then he has no business using a knife, and so there will be no self-defense claim that he could really urge.”

CBS News Texas reached out to Anthony’s family and has not heard back yet.

CBS News Texas has also asked Frisco ISD what security protocols were used at the track meet and the district did not answer that question specifically. The district did say, “Karmelo Anthony was at the meet as a track athlete and participant.”

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