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EXCLUSIVE: The family of Texas teen Karmelo Anthony has been at the center of national media in recent weeks after the 17-year-old allegedly stabbed another boy to death at a track meet in Frisco on April 2.
Since the incident, Anthony’s family has raised more than $515,000 on the crowdsourcing platform GiveSendGo. The Karmelo Anthony Help Fund has become one of the most-discussed fundraising campaigns in recent weeks, collecting half a million dollars for a suspect who has reportedly said “I did it” about the stabbing but also claims it was in self-defense.
The campaign has not yet reached its $600,000 goal, which was pushed up on Tuesday from a previous $525,000 goal, so the funds have not been paid out to the family.
GiveSendGo co-founder Jacob Wells told Fox News Digital that his company has a team that is communicating with the Anthony family about how they plan on using the money once received.
“They’ve been very clear that the vast bulk of this money is going to be used for Karmelo’s legal defense,” Wells said, later adding, “They’ve indicated that some of it will be used to provide them some security, some much-needed security.”
Wells also said, “And then also, a secure location for them to live… they were renting before, and they’re continuing to rent. So it’s like, okay, $3,000 a month for the next year, year and a half.”
Wells declined to reveal anything more specific than that.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the family’s attorney and spokesperson, Next Generation Action Network (NGAN) President Dominique Alexander, for comment.
The fundraiser’s page description has been changed since it first went live.
The fundraiser’s purpose currently reads, “While legal defense is a critical part of this journey, we want to make it clear that this fund is not solely dedicated to legal expenses. The funds raised will also support a range of urgent and necessary needs that have emerged as a result of this situation, including — but not limited to — the safe relocation of the Anthony family due to escalating threats to their safety and well-being, as well as basic living costs, transportation, counseling, and other security measures.”
The page previously did not disclose the purpose of the funds.
“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.
“They did update their campaign to say ‘hey, here’s some of the things that we’ll be spending money on.’ And we sent an email out to everyone who had donated saying ‘make sure that’s you’ve read, and if you have any questions now, about their updated statements as far as use of funds, then you’re welcome to ask for a refund… and zero people responded saying ‘I want my money back.’”
SLAIN TEXAS TEEN AUSTIN METCALF’S HOME SWATTED HOURS AFTER TENSE PRESS CONFERENCE SHOWDOWN
Wells added that if a campaign’s funds were being used to purchase something that was not properly represented on the fundraiser page, it would be a violation of the company’s policy and grounds for removal.
Wells says he has taken down another fundraiser on his site for fraudulently raising money for travel expenses while the organizer intended to use the money to buy a gun. However, he specified that is not the case with the Anthony fund.
Anthony was recently moved from his home to an “undisclosed location to ensure his immediate safety” following an “alarming increase in death threats, continued harassment, and physical intimidation targeted at the family’s home,” NGAN said in a statement last week.
According to the release, the threats included people loitering and taking photos of the Anthony family’s current residence, unwanted food deliveries that NGAN said were “made to disturb and harass the family” and a mailing of Metcalf’s obituary to the home, which was also described as “disturbing.”
“We are sharing images and documentation of the threats the family has faced this past weekend to make the public aware of the dangerous atmosphere that has been created — an atmosphere fueled by organized hate, systemic racism, and intentional misinformation,” the group said.
Anthony was released from the Collin County Jail after his bond was reduced from $1 million to $250,000 last Monday. He is charged with first-degree murder.
Meanwhile, the Metcalf family have been victims of swatting in recent weeks, the Frisco Police Department previously confirmed. Swatting is when a 911 call is made, usually to report a fake violent crime, to get police and sometimes even SWAT teams, to respond to the address given by the caller.
Anthony reportedly confessed to stabbing Metcalf when he was arrested by a school resource officer at Kuykendall Stadium in the minutes following the attack.
When one officer told another that he had the alleged stabbing suspect in custody, Anthony apparently said, “I’m not alleged. I did it,” according to the arrest report from the incident.
Anthony also asked the officers if Metcalf was “going to be OK” and asked if what happened could be considered “self-defense.”
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