Suspected Austin Metcalf killer allowed to graduate from high school despite murder charge: report
The teenager suspected of killing high school track star Austin Metcalf will be allowed to graduate from his Frisco, Texas, high school despite being charged with first-degree murder, according to a report.
Karmelo Anthony will graduate from Centennial High School, part of the Frisco Independent School District, according to WFAA. Students from that high school are set to graduate on May 22.
Anthony will not be part of the graduation ceremony, according to the report.
"We are proud to share that Karmelo Anthony will graduate and receive his high school diploma, and that his academic achievements will not be disrupted," Next Generation Action Network (NGAN) President Dominique Alexander, a spokesman for Anthony's family, reportedly said.
"NGAN has worked diligently alongside the Anthony family's legal team to bring about this fair and student-focused resolution," he said. "This is a moment of dignity for Karmelo and a reminder of the power of advocacy done right."
Suspect In Austin Metcalf Killing Moved To 'Undisclosed Location' For Protection: Family Spokesman
Read On The Fox News App
Frisco ISD Superintendent Mike Waldrip addressed what he said were false rumors that Anthony would be able to attend the graduation ceremony.
"Frisco ISD has learned that misinformation is being shared regarding Centennial High School's graduation via several media outlets and perpetuated through social media," he told WFAA. "It is disheartening that the incredible accomplishments and achievements of our Centennial seniors may be dampened by needless fearmongering, attention-seeking and media vitriol. Our students, staff and community deserve better.
"I want to be clear. No student who commits a serious criminal offense (Title V felony) is permitted to participate in the graduation ceremony. Additionally, anyone who trespasses on Frisco ISD property or at a District event will be subject to immediate removal and possible arrest by law enforcement," he said, adding that the school district does not condone violence.
"We work to ensure every student is safe to learn and feels part of our culture of respect, honor and integrity," he said.
"Let's come together as a community to honor and support our students and staff. This moment is about their success, and they deserve our full attention and encouragement. Congratulations to the Centennial Class of 2025!"
Anthony, now 18, is accused of stabbing and killing Metcalf over a dispute regarding Anthony's presence in the Memorial High School tent at the April 2 track meet.
Accused Austin Metcalf Killer Won't Face Death Penalty Or Life Without Parole: Da
He and his supporters claim that he acted in self-defense, and that Metcalf pushed him out of the tent.
That claim is tenuous, according to Julie Rendelman, a former homicide prosecutor from New York who now runs a private criminal defense firm.
"If the evidence is what it is right now, I think he's going to have an uphill battle claiming self-defense," she previously told Fox News Digital. "If the scenario is… that the victim told [Anthony] to leave, and then in some way physically touched him without more, then I'm not comfortable – I don't believe that a self-defense claim will work."
Meanwhile, Alexander has compared Anthony to figures like Kyle Rittenhouse and Daniel Penny, who have won self-defense cases in criminal court.
"Nobody in the public media has one video, but we got the video of Kyle Rittenhouse with an AK-47 shooting three people in the back," he said in a chaotic April 17 news conference before which Jeff Metcalf, Austin's father, was escorted off the property. "We got that, and he raised more than $2 million publicly, and nobody said anything about that."
Texas Track Meet Stabbing Suspect Told Responding Officer He 'Did It': Docs
He also called Anthony's detractors bigots, in what has become a racially charged public discussion.
"Because these racist bigots try to prevent us from standing up for our baby, our boy, he should be afforded the same rights that Kyle Rittenhouse had, Daniel Penny and all the people who have claimed whatever their defense was. He should be afforded the same right," Alexander said.
"What [Jeff Metcalf] has felled [sic] into is the political operatives that want to make this thing a political thing of hate and yet bigotry and yet racism," he said of Austin's father. "We have conservative operatives that have been posting nonstop about this case."
NGAN and Frisco ISD declined to comment.
Anthony's attorney, Mike Howard, did not return a comment request.
Jeff Metcalf did not return a comment request.Original article source: Suspected Austin Metcalf killer allowed to graduate from high school despite murder charge: report
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Jasmine Crockett surprises reporter with claim Republicans 'tell me how much they like me'
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, surprised a local reporter during an interview on Sunday with her claim that Republicans frequently say how much they like her. "I think that people just have found a way to connect with me, and I think, you know, there was a point in which people in the party, well, within parties, not within our specific party, felt like, 'Oh, she's Black and she's proud, so only Black people will listen to her,'" said the liberal congresswoman. "And then it's like, well, wait a minute, maybe just liberals will listen to her, and now it's become clear as I have been out in various cities throughout this country, where I've had Republicans walk up to me and tell me how much they like me," Crockett told Jason Whitely, a reporter for Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA, on "Inside Texas Politics." Whitely responded, "No, you haven't, are you serious?" Social Media Erupts Over Jasmine Crockett 'Gaslighting' About Calling Abbott 'Governor Hot Wheels' Crockett said she was and told the reporter, "You'd be surprised." Read On The Fox News App "Come on!" Whitely added. Asked by Whitely about her political ambitions and if she was looking to do something bigger going into 2026 and looking ahead to the 2028 presidential election, Crockett said no. "I want to do what I can to hopefully make sure that we win," she said. "Win the majority back in Congress, but also with the presidency." Crockett has been outspoken in her criticism of President Donald Trump and reportedly has her sights on becoming the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. Jasmine Crockett Shares Bizarre Song Clip Calling Herself Leader Of The Future Crockett agreed that "Republicans want poor people to die as quickly as humanly possible," during a town hall event on Monday. She has traded barbs with Trump and has alleged that the president is "terrified" of "smart, bold Black women" telling him the truth after Trump called her a "low-IQ person." Crockett also expressed some doubt about having an extensive career in politics, pointing to "death threats." "I did criminal defense work, and I worked with true blue criminals and never had to worry about death threats. And waking up and having to deal with death threats, having to think about where I go, how much security I have, because of all the hateful rhetoric that is circling, and a lot of it is spewed directly from the president of the United States himself," she said. Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture "I just don't know that that's really a life that I want to live for an extended amount of time," she added, noting that she would continue to serve as long as she could in her current article source: Jasmine Crockett surprises reporter with claim Republicans 'tell me how much they like me'
Fox News
3 hours ago
- Fox News
Jasmine Crockett surprises reporter with claim Republicans 'tell me how much they like me'
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, surprised a local reporter during an interview on Sunday with her claim that Republicans frequently say how much they like her. "I think that people just have found a way to connect with me, and I think, you know, there was a point in which people in the party, well, within parties, not within our specific party, felt like, 'Oh, she's Black and she's proud, so only Black people will listen to her,'" said the liberal congresswoman. "And then it's like, well, wait a minute, maybe just liberals will listen to her, and now it's become clear as I have been out in various cities throughout this country, where I've had Republicans walk up to me and tell me how much they like me," Crockett told Jason Whitely, a reporter for Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA, on "Inside Texas Politics." Whitely responded, "No, you haven't, are you serious?" Crockett said she was and told the reporter, "You'd be surprised." "Come on!" Whitely added. Asked by Whitely about her political ambitions and if she was looking to do something bigger going into 2026 and looking ahead to the 2028 presidential election, Crockett said no. "I want to do what I can to hopefully make sure that we win," she said. "Win the majority back in Congress, but also with the presidency." Crockett has been outspoken in her criticism of President Donald Trump and reportedly has her sights on becoming the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. Crockett agreed that "Republicans want poor people to die as quickly as humanly possible," during a town hall event on Monday. She has traded barbs with Trump and has alleged that the president is "terrified" of "smart, bold Black women" telling him the truth after Trump called her a "low-IQ person." Crockett also expressed some doubt about having an extensive career in politics, pointing to "death threats." "I did criminal defense work, and I worked with true blue criminals and never had to worry about death threats. And waking up and having to deal with death threats, having to think about where I go, how much security I have, because of all the hateful rhetoric that is circling, and a lot of it is spewed directly from the president of the United States himself," she said. "I just don't know that that's really a life that I want to live for an extended amount of time," she added, noting that she would continue to serve as long as she could in her current role.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
‘Anthony from Staten Island' said he developed a chat tool for Meta. His entire identity was fake.
A provider of identity verification and fraud tools was recently targeted by what appear to be multiple North Korean IT workers managing dozens of personas. The stream of resumes to Socure for software development positions all boasted experience at brand-name tech firms like Amazon, Google, and Netflix. Turns out they were all fake. 'Anthony from Staten Island' had a polished set of credentials and claimed he previously worked at Meta Platforms. During a Zoom interview for a senior software engineer job, the supposed New Yorker was charming and articulate as he talked about creating a key chat application at the $1.6 trillion social media giant. For the first 20 minutes, everything went smoothly. Anthony smiled, engaged naturally, and delivered polished responses to questions. Then, it all changed. 'What was most striking was he was really affable,' recalled Rivka Little, Socure's chief growth officer. 'You can 100% see why people would become a victim to this.' When the interview advanced to more complex two-part questions that required further explanation, Anthony lost his place. He seemed more stilted and less certain, Little told Fortune. Socure believes Anthony was a North Korean IT worker, part of a sophisticated and insidious criminal organization that consists of trained technologists from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The DPRK IT workers use American identities, real or fabricated, and apply for remote jobs in IT at American and European companies. The scheme has been a massive runaway success. Hundreds of Fortune 500 companies have unwittingly hired thousands of IT workers from the DPRK, and the IT crew sends its salaries to authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un. Kim uses the money to fund the country's weapons of mass destruction program. The scheme generates between $200 million to $600 million a year, according to UN estimates, and the DPRK IT workers collaborate with highly skilled operatives responsible for stealing billions in crypto heists. The scheme is so pervasive that some tech founders have resorted to asking potential job candidates to insult Kim before progressing to a formal interview. DPRK IT workers are constantly surveilled and insulting the supreme leader of the regime would lead to severe punishment. The threat is scaling rapidly. This year, Kim doubled the earning quotas required of the worker delegations and launched a new artificial intelligence unit called Research Center 227 to support the country's cyber crime initiatives, according to research from security firm DTEX. Socure is publicizing its experience with Anthony to alert other companies to new warning signs and also to avoid the pitfalls of overly restrictive hiring practices that might make it harder for legitimate job seekers. The challenge is the fraudulent candidates are skilled and some are very charming, Little explained. 'Anyone can fall for these interviews—he did really well for a long period of time,' said Little. Some of the indicators that companies are relying on won't work in the long term, she warned. For instance, Anthony gave a surname that sounded Italian and he claimed to hail from Staten Island. During his interview however, he had an accent that didn't align with his origin story. 'People come in all kinds of packages,' she noted. Superficial nuances shouldn't be used to eliminate candidates. And while the DPRK IT workers tend to use stereotypical Western names, if they tweaked their scheme slightly and used names that correlated with their accents, those signs would disappear. More telling, she said, were the inconsistencies in Anthony's digital footprint. Many of the fabricated resumes sent to Socure in recent months had big marquee names that made them stand out. Google, Meta, Amazon, and Netflix were often included and the job applicants claimed to have been responsible for the most innovative and interesting products at those companies. A quick check with certain internal staff who worked at Meta during the time Anthony claimed to be there revealed no one knew him. Another flag was the immaturity of Anthony's digital identity. His email address and phone number had been connected to his name for only a matter of weeks. Usually, people have phone numbers and email addresses linked to them going back years, she noted. And despite a LinkedIn profile matching his work history and displaying the bright green 'Open to work' banner, Anthony didn't have much going on with connections, posts, or likes on the platform. It was unusual for someone with an extensive tech background. However, the last thing a company should do is to create more friction and drama that would make it more difficult for legitimate job candidates, she said. Plus, while the North Korean IT worker scam creates risk to hiring companies, there are plenty of reverse schemes that target job seekers. A woman contacted Socure and told the company she had been interviewed for a job by a fake HR person and scammed out of thousands of dollars after providing her name, ID, and bank account details thinking she had been hired. It creates the need for a delicate balance, said Little. Companies need to protect themselves from fraudulent hires, but can't create so much friction that legitimate candidates find it too difficult to apply for a job. Little suggested that companies integrate passive ID verification into their HR platforms to check identity in the background without requiring upfront ID from candidates. Careful interview techniques that probe for scripted responses or the use of AI in the midst of conversation plus digital footprint clues can also help reveal fraudulent job seekers. 'I've almost never seen such an intersection of fraud, money laundering, and sanctions violations,' said Little. 'It's a perfect storm.' This story was originally featured on
