Familiar to most, in April 2025, 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony stabbed and killed 17-year-old Memorial High School student Austin Metcalf at a track meet in Frisco, Texas.

The fatal incident happened after brothers Hunter and Austin Metcalf attempted to remove Karmelo from their school’s team tent. And after a short exchange of words and a scuffle, Karmelo took out a 3.5 inch folding knife from his backpack and stabbed Austin in the chest. 

On June 9, the now 19-year-old Karmelo was found guilty of first degree murder and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Commenters online have endlessly debated on whether Karmelo made the right call to use a fatal weapon against Austin, considering all that was documented was a “non-violent shove” from the Memorial student. 

But what was noticeable from the pro-Karmelo side of the debate was the frequent argument that Karmelo simply used self-defense against Austin Metcalf.

This is incorrect.

Under Texas law, any method of defense resembling lethal force is considered deadly force, not strictly self-defense. And the difference is rather straightforward.

According to Texas law, self-defense states, “a person is justified in using force against another when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect the actor against the other’s use or attempted use of unlawful force.”

Under this standard, Karmelo would have needed to demonstrate that he reasonably believed Austin’s push was a threat that warranted physical force, meaning a returned push, punch, or shove, which would not have been difficult to establish.

Unfortunately, Karmelo went further than self-defense by using deadly force, a subcategory statute under Texas law. In Texas, deadly force is defined as “force that is intended or known by the actor to cause, or in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing, death or serious bodily injury.”

The law further states that deadly force is only justified when a person is already acting lawfully in self-defense, did not provoke the confrontation, is lawfully present, and reasonably believes such force is necessary to protect against deadly force from another person.

From what was documented, Karmelo utilized a knife to defend himself against Austin after being pushed by a “one-handed touch.” This decision is what was accurately argued in the trial.

So, when debating about this now concluded incident, it’s important to recognize that in order to correctly argue Karmelo’s case, commenters must explain whether Karmelo had the right to use deadly force onto Austin Metcalf instead of simply self-defense.

Now, that’s not the question this article seeks to answer. It’s instead defining the legal terms in the Texas case and how it should be properly used when describing the trial online.

Of course the court has since made their decision, but it’s worth sharing how the law treats self-defense and deadly force as related but separate concepts, each with its own requirements. Understanding the difference is essential to having an informed conversation about what happened that day.