Does a viral image show Karmelo Anthony, who is a subject to fatal stabbing charges in Texas, attending prom despite the criminal investigation? No, that's not true: The person in the image is not him. The X account in which the photos and claim appear labels itself a parody account. Previously, a local news outlet informed the public that Anthony would be allowed to obtain his high school diploma but would not join in-person graduation activities.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X where it was published on May 19, 2025. It opened:
Killer Karmelo Anthony goes all out for his prom date.
He's living the life off of killing an innocent white kid.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot by Lead Stories)
The entry referenced Karmelo Anthony, a high-school student who is a suspect (archived here) in the April 2, 2025, stabbing that resulted in the death of Austin Metcalf, another high-school student in Frisco, Texas.
On May 13, 2025, WFAA, which is an ABC affiliate in the Dallas area, reported (archived here) that Karmelo was scheduled to receive his high-school diploma despite being under house arrest and, thus, skipping the last 1.5 months of school, but added that the gravity of criminal charges would preclude him from attending the graduation ceremony.
A viral image posted on X on May 19, 2025, could not portray the graduation ceremony in Anthony's high school because it was scheduled to begin there two days later (archived here).
Furthermore, the photo did not show him at all. Lead Stories compared Annothy's mugshot released by the local police with the other pictures from the post, and, according to Amazon Rekognition, the viral image portrayed a different person:
(Source: Amazon Rekognition screenshot by Lead Stories)
(Source: Amazon Rekognition screenshot by Lead Stories)
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