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Austin Metcalf’s grief-stricken father said the harrowing bodycam of his son’s fatal stabbing “killed him” as it was shown during Karmelo Anthony’s murder trial before expressing sorrow for the teen killer.
Jeff Metcalf sat through the excruciating video inside the courthouse in McKinney, Texas, where it showed first responders trying to save the 17-year-old high school football star, who died in his twin brother’s arms, after he had been stabbed during a track meet on April 2, 2025.
“What killed me was the bodycam footage when I could hear [Austin’s twin] Hunter screaming ‘Oh, God, oh God. My brother, my twin,” Metcalf told CBS News on Wednesday after his judge-issued gag order was lifted.
“As a parent, you always want to protect your kids. And to hear my son and the fear in his voice. And I’m not there to fix it.”
The video was so harrowing that Anthony, now 19, squirmed throughout it, his eyes averting during the particularly graphic moments.
At one point, Anthony rubbed his eyes and his lawyer, sitting next to him, patted him on the shoulder and also quivered.
Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison and faces a parole review in 17 years – but Jeff believes the penalty should’ve been life imprisonment.
He vowed he would be in court advocating against parole if he were still alive.
“If I’m still alive, yes, I will be there in person,” he said. “If not, I am going to make a video. If I’m passed on, that can be played.”
Jeff said he had a degree of sorrow for his son’s killer as he sat in the courtroom – and said he wanted to forgive for his own mental state.
“I’ll even say this: I had a little bit of sorrow because I’m human. And that poor boy is fixing to experience a life that I would not wish upon anyone,” he said.
“Forgiveness was not for him. Forgiveness was for me. So I don’t carry the rage, the hate, and that around; it will eat me up like cancer.”
Anthony was transferred to the Wallace Pack Unit, near Houston, Texas, on Wednesday morning.
Jeff Metcalf scolded Anthony during an emotional victim impact statement, where he said, “People think grief is sadness, it is not. It is rage. Pure unfiltered rage.”
He ordered the cowardly teen to “don’t look down” before issuing a blistering tirade.
“You failed your parents, you failed yourself, and you failed society … You don’t belong in this community,” he told Anthony. “A piece of me died with my son, and I’m expected to keep living.
“You’re going to prison. I forgave you the day it happened. I don’t forgive what you did,” he added. “You can’t look me in the eyes but you can stab my f–king son!”
Anthony plunged the knife, a multi-tool with a serrated blade, into Metcalf’s heart, leaving him with a 2-inch stab wound.
Anthony, a then-Centennial High School student, attacked after refusing to leave the rival Memorial High School tent at the meet. He refused to leave despite being ordered to 15 times.
But protests erupted outside the courthouse during the trial, with supporters of Anthony claiming the trial was racist against a young black teen, who had acted in self-defense.
“This was never about race,” Metcalf said. “It is about right and wrong. The public’s response sickens me … The moral decay is frightening.”
During the sentencing phase, the jury weighed the potential extenuating circumstances of “sudden passion” — crimes committed in the heat of the moment that, in Texas, can mean lighter sentences.
The jury deliberated for about three hours before delivering the guilty verdict Tuesday. The panel deliberated for another three hours before returning with the three-and-a-half-decade sentence.
Anthony’s mom Kala scoffed at the sentence, branding it “racist and biased,” and he will appeal the murder conviction.
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