A Texas murder conviction this week has ignited a social media firestorm and appears to have prompted an act of street violence hundreds of miles from the courthouse where the verdict was delivered. Karmelo Anthony, 19, was found guilty on Tuesday by a jury in Frisco, Texas, and subsequently sentenced to 35 years in prison for the 2025 stabbing murder of Austin Metcalf. The conviction has since been linked to an unprovoked physical assault on a private citizen in Florida, captured on video and widely circulated online.
"I thought you wuz on da jury selection fo Karmelo, my b." — "Combak KidBoe," Assailant.
The incident that led to Anthony's conviction occurred in 2025 at a high school track meet in Frisco. According to trial testimony, Anthony walked uninvited into a tent occupied by Metcalf's team and issued a challenge for anyone to physically remove him. When Metcalf attempted to do so, Anthony reportedly drew a knife, resulting in Metcalf's fatal stabbing. Anthony's claim of self-defense found little support among witnesses, whose testimonies consistently indicated that Anthony escalated the confrontation to a lethal level. The case, which involved Anthony, who is Black, and Metcalf, who was white, carried a charged racial dimension from its inception, contributing to heightened emotions surrounding the proceedings. Supporters of Anthony reportedly clashed with demonstrators and hurled racial slurs outside the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, where the trial took place, even before the jury returned its verdict.
Following the announcement of the verdict, a content creator operating under the social media name "Combak KidBoe" posted video footage purportedly showing him approaching a white military veteran in Florida and punching him in the face without provocation. The video's caption, "um down to 4 crackers na free karmelo," explicitly linked the assault to the Texas conviction. In the footage, KidBoe can be heard asking the veteran, "Weren't you on jury selection?" before reportedly telling the man he was "going to die" and then striking him.
KidBoe's social media profile indicates his location in Jacksonville, Florida, with roots in Miami Beach, a significant distance from McKinney, Texas, where the Anthony trial was conducted. As of now, there is no verified information connecting the targeted veteran to the Anthony jury. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether Florida law enforcement agencies have initiated an investigation into the recorded assault.
The video was initially posted to Facebook, where KidBoe had a following exceeding 5,800 users, but was subsequently removed from the platform. Undeterred, KidBoe reposted the footage to Instagram the following Wednesday morning, reaching a smaller audience of 261 followers. Despite the removal from Facebook, KidBoe publicly confirmed the takedown while continuing to post pro-Anthony content across his various social media accounts.
The identity of the veteran targeted in the assault has not been publicly confirmed, nor has the specific location of the incident within Florida been disclosed. However, the events highlight a troubling progression where a legal verdict in one state appears to have directly fueled an act of real-world violence against an unverified, private citizen in another state. The incident, recorded and disseminated online under a rallying cry for a convicted individual, has raised significant concerns about the influence of social media in inciting violence and the potential for misdirected retribution. The broader implications of such acts on public safety and the integrity of the judicial process continue to be a subject of public discussion.
