Jeff Metcalf, the father of the Memorial High School student who was fatally stabbed at the track meet earlier this month, was barred from attending the news conference, escorted out by Dallas police.
By Chase Rogers and Zacharia Washington
Staff Writers
The mother of a Frisco high school student accused of fatally stabbing a fellow athlete during a track meet earlier this month spoke publicly for the first time on Wednesday, describing how her family has been “under attack” by a wave of racist harassment, false accusations and death threats.
Her voice trembling, Kala Hayes stood before a row of television cameras and bright lights at a news conference organized by the Next Generation Action Network, a Dallas-based civil rights nonprofit. She said her family’s life has been upended since her eldest son, Karmelo Anthony, was arrested in connection with the death.
“My 13-year-old daughter is afraid to sleep in her own bedroom because she’s fearful of what might happen to her,” Hayes said, reading from prepared remarks. Karmelo Anthony’s father, Andrew Anthony, stood beside his wife, wiping away his own tears while reaching over to dry hers.
The news conference marked the family’s first public appearance — and, according to the nonprofit’s president, their last before a trial — since the case began, garnering national attention. It came only days after Karmelo Anthony was released on bond. Hayes said they chose to speak out to underscore the personal toll the case has taken, confront falsehoods circulating about their family and urge the public to allow her son due process under the law.
Anthony, 17, was not present at the news conference. The Centennial High School senior is on house arrest, a condition of his bond after his release from jail Monday. He faces a murder charge, a first-degree felony, in the death of Austin Metcalf, the 17-year-old junior at Memorial High School who died after the stabbing.
Austin Metcalf’s father, Jeff Metcalf, tried to attend the news conference, standing near the bank of television cameras for a time before Anthony’s parents arrived at the podium. Dallas police escorted him out of the building. When reached by The Dallas Morning News immediately afterward, he declined to comment on his removal.
Speculation about what happened at David Kuykendall Stadium on the rainy morning of April 2 has intensified in the weeks afterward. Online fundraisers for Metcalf and Anthony have drawn hundreds of thousands of dollars. Online disinformation impersonating the Frisco police chief and posts targeting the judge presiding over Anthony’s case have become the subject of criminal investigations. Police have said they are working with each family to ensure their safety as the case moves forward.
Anthony told police he was acting in self-defense, an officer wrote in a police report obtained by The News. Police have not said that race played a role in the case, including the responding officers whose accounts were included in a report, but much of the online discourse has been along racial lines. Metcalf was white. Anthony is Black.
“Our son deserves the same rights under the law that everyone is afforded,” Hayes said. “He’s been raised in a two-parent home with structure, stability, love — and we put God first in everything we do.
“We believe in the Constitution,” she continued. “We believe in the laws of this state, but those laws must apply to all of us, not just some of us.”
Escorted out by Dallas police
A media advisory sent to outlets by the Next Generation Action Network indicated the news conference would begin at 11 a.m., but Anthony’s family did not approach the podium to speak until nearly an hour later.
Not long before it began, Dallas police officers approached Jeff Metcalf — who had been standing silently, wearing dark sunglasses and an arm brace from a recent surgery — and asked him to leave. At least five officers walked Metcalf, 60, away from the gathering, escorting him outside.
Dallas police were called at about 11:30 a.m. to the 1800 block of South Good Latimer Expressway, where the news conference was held, after a person was “asked to leave the location and did so without incident,” Corbin Rubinson, a police spokesperson, said Thursday afternoon in a statement.
Dominique Alexander, an activist and president of Next Generation Action Network, spoke on behalf of Anthony’s family for the majority of the news conference. He asked reporters not to follow Jeff Metcalf as he was escorted out, saying his organization was working with police to ensure the Anthony family’s safety.
As officers guided Metcalf away, Alexander called Jeff Metcalf’s presence at the news conference “a disrespect to the dignity of his son.”
Jeff Metcalf previously told The News he felt for Anthony’s family. He has been among those urging the public to avoid speculation about the case. The day after his son’s death, he appeared on a Fox News program, where he described Anthony as someone who had “made a bad choice” — one that would forever change the lives of both families.
“I pray that none of this happens to another family. If you can’t be a kind person, find one,” Jeff Metcalf told The News the day after his son died. “We need more compassion, more love, more understanding, better parenting and less social media.”
Speaking after Alexander, Hayes expressed sympathy for the Metcalf family.
“To the family that experienced that loss, my heart truly goes out to you,” she said.
Possible expulsion from school
Before Hayes spoke, Alexander said Frisco ISD was moving to expel Anthony from school after the incident. Anthony is on track to graduate next month.
Rachel McReynolds, a district spokesperson, declined to comment Thursday afternoon when asked whether the district was seeking to expel Anthony, saying student privacy laws bar the public disclosure of such information.
Alexander said there would be no further remarks on the case, but said his organization would organize a protest against the district.
“The Next Generation Action Network, outside of the legal process, will be going through different avenues … to ensure that we fight for the rights of Karmelo Anthony,” he said. “So, in next coming days, we will be announcing to the public we will do direct action outside of [the] Frisco ISD administration office because this is outright wrong.”
Anthony’s parents embraced as Alexander began wrapping up his remarks. They did not take questions from the media.
“We’ll see you at trial,” Alexander said before guiding the parents out of view of the cameras with security guards flanking close behind.
Staff writers Jamie Landers and Matt Kyle contributed reporting.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login