A Texas teen charged with fatally stabbing a football star from a rival high school at a track meet has raised more nearly $200,000 to fund his legal defense — including more than $100,000 in less than 24 hours.
Karmelo Anthony’s family has twice raised the fundraising goal for their GiveSendGo campaign — it was $100,000 when it launched, now it’s been raised to $200,000 after surpassing each previous goal.
By Monday afternoon, more than 5,200 people had donated $180,000 to the family — who hired prominent Dallas civil rights lawyers Kim T. Cole and Billy Clark.
The Anthony family set up the “Help Karmelo Official Fund,” claiming a “false, unjust, and harmful” narrative is being spread about the slaying of the 17-year-old football star.
Police say the Frisco, Texas, 17-year-old pulled a knife out of his backpack and stabbed Austin Metcalf, also 17, in the chest when Metcalf tried to make him leave his high school team’s tent at a track meet in the Dallas suburb.
The fundraiser page for Karmelo Anthony, which has nearly doubled its original $100,000 goal. GiveSendGo
Austin Metcalf, the teen football star killed at a Texas track meet. Family Handout
Metcalf died in his twin brother’s arms on the bleachers of a high school stadium in Frisco, Texas, after Anthony stabbed him in the heart, Metcalf’s heartbroken family said.
Anthony admitted to killing Metcalf, but said he acted in self defense.
Anthony is now in the Collin County Jail on a $1 million bond and a charge of first degree murder.
The donations come as a flurry of conspiracy theories have gained traction online based on fake posts purporting to be from authorities in Frisco — including one that claims Anthony was sucker-punched and badly beat during a fight with Metcalf, and another that Metcalf died of a drug overdose. Cops said they are investigating the fake posts.
The money from the fundraiser will help the family retain two top Texas attorneys with a history of taking on racially charged cases, including negotiating a settlement for a 14-year-old girl manhandled by a cop at the 2015 “McKinney pool party” incident.
“Karmelo, like all citizens of the United States, is entitled to a fair and impartial legal process; we are committed to ensuring that Karmelo’s rights are indeed protected throughout each phase of the criminal justice system,” said Clark and Cole in a statement.
The fundraiser photo of Karmelo Anthony. Family Handout
Austin Metcalf with his twin brother Hunder. Jeff Metcalf / Facebook
His lawyers are seeking to lower Anthony’s “excessive” $1 million bond and convince the Collin County district attorney to make “a better determination” of the charges, they said.
The fundraiser money, which is on track to blow past the $200,000 mark, seems to be mostly from small donations of $10 – $50.
“Good job standing up for yourself young man!” one recent donor commented.
“Isaiah 54:17 no weapon formed against you shall prosper and every tongue that rise up against you God shall condemn,” wrote another.
Arrest photo for Karmelo Anthony. Frisco Police Department
Austin Metcalf was a junior at Memorial High School in Frisco, TX. GoFundMe
Kim Cole and her firm K. Cole Law represented black teen Dajerria Becton after a viral video from McKinney, Texas, showed a cop slamming and pinning her to the ground at a pool party.
Cole managed to win a $148,850 settlement for Becton from the McKinney police department and the officer, who resigned.
Billy Clark of The Clark Law Firm became a professional mediator after a 20-year career in the Air Force.
In a statement, the pair of attorneys directed people to the Anthony family fundraiser, but they also emphasized that a previous GoFundMe page claiming to be set up by Karmelo himself was fake.
The bogus GoFundMe page, which has been taken down, had claimed KArmelo was “jumped” and that Metcalf smashed his phone, among other salacious details.
