'He's a good kid': Father of Austin Metcalf's alleged killer says assumptions about his son are wrong

Amid a raging debate over whether the stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf was a racial attack by Karmelo Anthony , another 17-year-old who did not know Metcalf before and attacked him on the spur of the moment, Anthony's father has spoken out. In an interview with the New York Post, Anthony's father Andrew Anthony said everybody is making wrong assumptions about his son.

Anthony is a good kid and he was provoked to violence, his father said, while Metcalf's twin brother who witnessed the shocking stabbing revealed that they just told Anthony that he was sitting at the wrong spot. The stabbing incident took place at a sports event and Karmelo was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

Karmelo is a good kid, his father said. "He works two jobs. He's an A student, has a 3.7 GPA. Everyone has already made their assumptions about my son, but he’s not what they’re making him out to be," Karmelo's father said.

“He was not the aggressor. He was not the one who started it,” the father said. “I feel bad for the other parents and family, and words can’t explain how both [families] have been affected by this tragedy.”

Austin Metcalf's father on Fox: "This wasn't a race thing"

I simply can't imagine being a father and going on national television ONE DAY after your son was stabbed to death by a black kid to grovel like this. Utterly despicable. pic.twitter.com/nMb2h65GP1

— captive dreamer (@siegfriedmuell) April 3, 2025

Austin Metcalf's father says it was not a racial, political attack

Austin Metcalf's stabbing took a racial, political turn after 'White lives matter' started trending as social media users remembered him. Metcalf's father Jeff Metcalf reacted to the debate and said that it was not a political or racial attack but a 'human being thing'. "This person made a bad choice and affected both his family and my family -- forever. It's a very unfortunate thing. But I know exactly what happened. His brother was there, trying to save him. He died in his arms," he said. "So if you weren't there, please don't spread rumors."

"My son is gone and he will never come home again. I want to clarify something right off the start because I've already heard some rumors and gossip. This was not a race thing. This was not a political thing. Please do not comment if you do not know what happened. Try not to turn this into a racial thing. It was not. Do not politicize it. It's not."