Cherokee County

Father says not to take life for granted after learning daughter was on hit list

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — A father who says his daughter was one of three people on a hit list in a foiled school attack said life can't be taken for granted, after the list was exposed Monday night.

A judge on Thursday ordered both suspects in the foiled attack held without bond on attempted murder charges.

The missing piece of the puzzle in the plot is the motive.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Nicole Carr has been digging into the reasons why the two teens were trying to carry out what the Cherokee County Sheriff called a Columbine-style attack.

So far, there are no arrest warrants on file in the case yet, and investigators do not want to speculate on the motive.

The father of one of the students on the alleged hit list who only wanted to be called Frank, said his daughter told him Alfred Dupree, 17, and Victoria McCurley, 17, were super nice and close but were "different" from the rest of the student body.

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"Makes you think about every day in life, and not to take it for granted, you know?” Frank said.

He called into Mark Arum's WSB radio show Wednesday night.

Frank said investigators informed him his daughter was a target in a foiled attack at Etowah High School.

“Now to find out there was three to five people and my daughter was one on the list, it just kind of sets you back," Frank said. “Never once did she have any question marks about them harming her or anyone in the school.”

The families of Dupree nor McCurley did not wish to comment when they were outside the Cherokee County Jail on Thursday after a judge ordered the teens to be held without bond.

Investigators said Dupree's family handed over weapons in light of the charges.

“There was no reason to believe the children had the firearms in their possession at any time, but still we took those into custody and the parents were very cooperative in that,” Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said.

One of Dupree's former co-workers spoke with Carr in an exclusive interview Thursday.

"He didn't really socialize a lot. He was a hard worker," former co-worker Nicole Tribble told Carr. “He just kind of reminded me of myself, so I reached out, but he didn't accept my help.”

Tribble said she worked with Dupree for about a year and a half at the Food Depot grocery store, which is 2 miles from the high school.

She said the teen struggled with drugs.

"We talked about it. I'm in recovery myself,” Tribble said. “Whatever he was going through, to end in this result is horrible."

The teens' case is now being transferred to Superior Court.