Teens Who Planned Etowah HS Attack Sentenced To 40 Years

WOODSTOCK, GA — Two former Etowah High School students were sentenced on Tuesday afternoon by the Cherokee County Superior Court to 40 years in prison, with 20 to serve, after authorities were alerted to their deadly 2017 plan for Etowah High School. They were allegedly planning to carry out an attack on their classmates and teachers, including blowing the school up and shooting students.

Alfred Dupree, 19, of Acworth, and Veronica McCurley, 18, of Woodstock, faced 90 years in jail after plotting to blow up Etowah High School in a 2017 planned attack, Channel 2 Action News reported. The two pleaded guilty on Friday to six counts of conspiracy to commit murder, among other felony charges, the station reported.

"The court must take into account the safety of the community knowing that any release without you being treated puts everybody at risk," the station reported Judge Ellen McElyea saying as she handed down the sentence.

In June 2018, the former students entered not guilty pleas and waived formal arraignments on the charges outlined in a December 2017 indictment. They were indicted by a Cherokee County grand jury on six counts of conspiracy to commit murder and one count each of conspiracy to commit arson and unlawful possession of a destructive device, court records show.

The pair were arrested in October 2018 after the Cherokee Sheriff's Office was notified by the Cherokee County Schools Police Department of threats made against the school.

An investigation and search of the students' homes launched by detectives unearthed a personal journal/diary, a "homemade incendiary device, which was described as a flammable substance, and an undetermined powder (sic) substance," the Cherokee Sheriff's Office previously told Patch.

According to the indictment, the students came up with a "kill list" that had the names of their classmates and at least one staff member at Etowah. Channel 2 reported a cousin saw the hit list and notified police.

They are also accused of creating a map of a portion of the school and collecting and preparing flammable and explosive materials to "knowingly damage, by means of fire and explosives," Etowah High School.

The indictment also charges the students planned to use those items to "kill, injure and intimidate students and staff at Etowah High School; and to destroy Etowah High School."