The co-founder of the fundraising platform hosting a campaign for murder suspect Karmelo Anthony is ambivalent about hosting the fund that has raised more than half a million dollars.
Anthony, 17, is charged with killing Austin Metcalf at a track meet in Frisco, Texas, on April 2. Metcalf was stabbed in the chest and died in his twin brother’s arms.
Anthony was initially held on $1 million bond, but that was reduced to $250,000, leading to the alleged murderer being released from jail. Now, he and his family live in a $900,000 house where the rent is $3,500 a month, according to the Daily Mail.
GiveSendGo co-founder Jacob Wells said the site is upholding its principles, as it did when hosting a fundraising campaign for Kyle Rittenhouse when he faced murder charges for an incident that took place in the 2020 Kenosha, Wisconsin, riots.
“How proud am I of this campaign? I don’t, I wouldn’t say I’m proud at all,” Wells said, according to Fox News.
“I have no pride in having this being on GiveSendGo. I just have appreciation for what GiveSendGo is doing in the midst of these tragic moments, which is standing on principle, which is loving people even in the midst of very hard and dark places,” he said.
The campaign had raised more than $516,000 as of Wednesday evening.
Because Anthony is black and Metcalf was white, Wells said some donations are likely designed to support racial division more than Anthony’s family.
“There will always be people who are donating for the wrong reasons, on any campaign. There are people that believe the best way forward is racial division. That’s what they believe. So they’re going to stoke the flames of racial division however they can,” Wells said.
Are you less likely to use GiveSendGo now that they have hosted Karmelo Anthony’s donation fund?
“When you live in free societies, which we do, there’s a price to pay, and that is it allows for some people to do things that might not be good. And I think people do that all the time,” he said.
GiveSendGo co-founder Jacob Wells says he “wouldn’t say I’m proud” when it comes to Karmelo Anthony raising over $500,000 on his platform.
Anthony told police that he “did it” – meaning the murder Austin Metcalf.
The teen is now making a weak self-defense argument.
“I have no… pic.twitter.com/B0Dphv69Br
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) April 30, 2025
Next Generation Action Network President Dominique Alexander invoked race in comments he made on April 17.
“Because these racist bigots try to prevent us from standing up for our baby, our boy, he should be afforded the same rights that Kyle Rittenhouse had, Daniel Penny and all the people who have claimed whatever their defense was – he should be afforded the same right,” Alexander said.
Wells again made clear that he knows some donations are based on race.
“When someone is championing a racial narrative that is divisive and not unifying, then I would claim that that’s a wrong reason to be donating. And there are people that have donated that are making claims that are divisive and not unifying. And those are in some of the comments,” he said.
“Unfortunately, in free societies, people can say stuff that is divisive and not unifying,” Wells added.
Metcalf’s father, Jeff Metcalf, has tried to defuse the public seeing his son’s murder through the lens of race.
“I want to clarify something right off to start because I’ve already heard some rumors and gossip. This was not a race thing. This is not a political thing,” he said.
“Do not politicize this. It’s not … this is a human being thing. This person made a bad choice and affected both his family and my family forever,” he said.
The campaign’s goal was upped on Tuesday from $525,000 to $600,000, according to Fox News.
“They’ve been very clear that the vast bulk of this money is going to be used for Karmelo’s legal defense,” Wells said, adding that, “They’ve indicated that some of it will be used to provide them some security, some much-needed security.”
“And then also, a secure location for them to live… they were renting before, and they’re continuing to rent. So it’s like, OK, $3,000 a month for the next year, year and a half,” he said.
“We sent an email out to everyone that donated… because there was some confusion at the beginning about whether this one was specifically a legal defense fund, or whether it was open for other things,” Wells said, noting that no donors asked for their money back.
According to KXAS-TV, witnesses said the stabbing followed an argument during which Metcalf, of Memorial High School, told Anthony, of Centennial High School, to move out from under a pop-up tent put up by Metcalf’s high school.
Anthony allegedly reached into a bag and told Metcalf “touch me and see what happens,” a witness said. After Anthony was pushed, a knife was produced, Metcalf was stabbed, and the suspect fled, witnesses said.
Anthony has said he acted in self-defense.
KXAS reported that Anthony told a police officer who called him an alleged suspect, “I’m not alleged, I did it.”
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