'I Despise Black People': Karmelo Anthony Racist Texts Revealed With Gun Photos After Austin Metcalf Murder Sentence

Karmelo Anthony, the Texas teenager convicted of murdering fellow student Austin Metcalf, is at the centre of renewed scrutiny after newly surfaced court records reportedly contain racist texts and photographs that appear to show him holding firearms in the months before the killing.

The documents, first reported by independent journalist Sarah Fields, form part of a 75-page 'Notice of Intent to Use Extraneous Offenses' filed in the case of State v. Karmelo Sincere Anthony. They were not presented to the jury that convicted him.

The material includes text exchanges, images and video that prosecutors and defence lawyers agreed to keep out of the trial. Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison in June after being found guilty of fatally stabbing Metcalf at a high school track meet in Frisco.

What the Court Documents Contain

The first reported images show Anthony holding a handgun in a November 2024 video, months before he fatally stabbed Metcalf at the Frisco track meet in April 2025.

A separate image from May 2024 shows him holding an AK-47-style rifle alongside three other teenagers, while a third clip reportedly captures him aiming a firearm at a residence before running off on 4 January 2025.

Just a week before Metcalf was killed, Anthony allegedly sent messages to his girlfriend, Valeria Perez, containing anti-Black slurs, according to a screenshot of the exchange. He reportedly wrote, 'I f—king despise black b*tches', before adding a slur followed by 'they need to go die'.

In a separate text a month earlier, he reportedly told Perez he 'might gt [go to] jail' after allegedly saying he had broken into a neighbour's home and stolen a watch. He also reportedly claimed in the exchange that he had brought a gun and knife to school.

The dossier also reportedly shows Anthony directing hostility at gay people, writing to a friend in June 2021 that 'these f—king gay people are f—king everything up'. He also reportedly made a separate derogatory reference to then-President Joe Biden.

None of this material was tested at trial or subjected to cross-examination, so the underlying claims remain allegations drawn from the filed documents rather than adjudicated facts.

Why Jurors Never Saw It

The 75-page collection was obtained by independent journalist Sarah Fields and includes photographs, videos and private messages involving Anthony.

According to prosecutor Bill Wirskye and reporting on the subsequent proceedings, the material was kept out of the trial as part of an informal agreement between prosecutors and defence attorneys to exclude potentially prejudicial character evidence concerning both teenagers.

The arrangement meant the jury that convicted Anthony of murder did not hear the material contained in the prosecution's notice, nor the defence material concerning Metcalf that had been kept out of the trial. The evidence was not therefore tested before the jury, and its contents were not findings made as part of Anthony's murder conviction.

Anthony filed a notice of appeal following his June conviction. A Texas judge later denied his request for a new trial in August, and the case is now moving forward through the appeals process.

The judge who presided over the original trial was also recused from the post-trial proceedings. Anthony's legal team has continued to challenge the conviction, while this publication has sought comment from his attorneys without success so far.

Conviction, Appeal and a Family's Grief

Metcalf, 17, was fatally stabbed at a Frisco high school track meet in April 2025 in an altercation that drew national attention to questions of race, self-defence and school safety in Texas. Body-camera footage released after the verdict captured Anthony telling officers, 'I'm not alleged, I did it.'

In August, a Texas judge rejected Anthony's initial bid for a new trial, while the judge who had overseen the original conviction was separately recused from the case.

Metcalf's father has also publicly criticised the Anthony family for not attending the sentencing hearing to hear victim impact statements.

Anthony's family, meanwhile, has continued to raise funds for his appeal after an earlier fundraiser raised more than $600,000, a sum that has drawn its own scrutiny online.

The newly surfaced texts and images add a new dimension to a case that has already divided public opinion along lines of race, self-defence law and prosecutorial discretion. With an appeal under way, the legal and public reckoning over Austin Metcalf's death is far from over.