Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond pulled no punches when discussing the early-morning shooting death of a 16-year-old high school student, or the deaths of eight other people killed over the past nine days.

The killings are devastating to those who knew and loved the victims, the chief said, but many of them happened because of the victims’ actions and could have been prevented.

“So, we need to have a really candid conversation about the things that are transpiring in our city as it relates to homicides and violence,’’ Thurmond said.

The chief began with the shooting death of 16-year-old Jada Mahogany White, a student at Jackson-Olin High School. Jada was killed just before 2:30 a.m. while she and several other juveniles were out drinking and riding around Ensley and damaging someone else’s vehicle.

“At 2:24 in the morning, I don’t know what a 16-year-old was doing out with three other juveniles, all of which had been drinking alcohol. They’re damaging a vehicle and they subsequently get shot at,’’ Thurmond said.

“Where were the parents? Did their parents know where they were? Did their parents know they were consuming alcohol? Did their parents know they were out at 2:24 in the morning?’’ he said. “I don’t think so, and that’s a problem.”

“We’re not babysitters,’’ Thurmond said. “That’s not our job.”

Following Jada’s homicide, her friends were brought to police headquarters for questioning.

“We had one of the females passed out and throwing up in our police car, throwing up here so she’s unable to speak to us,’’ he said. “They’re juveniles and we can’t find their parents to come up here so we can question them.”

“One of the females even told us, ‘I don’t have time to deal with this right now. I have to be home by 7 a.m.,’’’ Thurmond said. “Well, 7 a.m. is not an acceptable curfew.”

“Those are the challenges we face in many of cases, not just juveniles but across the board,” Thurmond said.

“It’s difficult for us to make cases to present to the district attorney office when you have absolutely no cooperation,’’ he said. “This was obviously someone who was a friend of theirs, but they don’t want to do anything to help law enforcement solve the case and get justice for their friend.”

Jada is one of two Jackson-Olin students killed since Sunday. Caleb Whitt, 17, was shot to death Sunday. Thurmond said Whitt was in a vehicle that was shooting into a house when others returned fired and fatally wounded Whitt.

“There seems to be a lack of parenting in some of these cases, not just these last two but throughout the past several years,’’ Thurmond said. “Parents have to play a vital role in their children’s lives. They have to be accountable for where their kids are at all times.”

Law enforcement, he said, can’t be everywhere all the time.

“The parents are the police of their children,’’ Thurmond said. “The police are the police of their community.”

“Last night’s homicide was 100 percent avoidable,’’ he said. “Had those children been where they were supposed to be in someone’s home, with someone watching after them, that young lady would still be alive today.”

So far this year in the city, 26 people have been killed. Of those, two have been ruled justifiable and therefore aren’t deemed criminal.

Nine of those killings happened in the past nine days. The ages of the victims range from 16 to 48. Three took place inside a residence, one in a vehicle, one at a gas station, and four outside or in a street.

Arrests have been made in three of those cases, and one suspect is detained in a fourth.

“There’s a term I’ve coined recently, and it’s ‘stop and think.’ Stop and think before you engage in activities you shouldn’t be engaging in. Think about who you are with. Stop and think before you pull that gun out and start pulling the trigger,’’ Thurmond said. “Are you going to die? Are you going to end up in prison? How many families are you going to shatter? Stop and think before you engage in these illegal activities.”

The chief said there has to be more community involvement. “The police can’t be on every street corner and in every home all the time,’’ he said. “That’s not our job.”

“The community has to police each other. When you see someone doing something wrong or know they’re engaging in activities with people they shouldn’t, somebody needs to say something,’’ he said. “When people start checking each other, things will change.”

Thurmond discussed each of the last nine homicides individually.

“I want to be sensitive to the victims and their families that we’ve lost over nine days,’’ he said. “This is not to be insensitive to them or to downplay any of these homicides, but we need to walk through these.”

“If we don’t identify where some of these issues are in the community, in the city,” he said, ‘’we’re not going to be able to change things and we have to do that.”

Here’s what he said about those slayings:

• On March 20 at 12:26 a.m. in the 300 block of 74th Street North, Devarta Thomas, 30, was killed. Jamarian Carpenter, 25, is charged with capital murder. “These individuals were acquaintances and this homicide occurred inside a vehicle,’’ Thurmond said.
• On March 20 at 11:29 a.m. in the 300 block of First Avenue North, James Washington, 29, was killed. Claude Hardy, 44, is charged with murder. “This was a dispute over a firearm that occurred inside an apartment,’’ Thurmond said. “It’s very hard for law enforcement to intervene in either one of those two.”
• On March 20 at 9:15 p.m. at 521 Buffalo Street, Kenneth Earl Harris Jr., 42, was killed. “His home was shot into, and we believe this was due to some of his past dealings,’’ Thurmond said. “Basically, he was involved in some activity that might possibly be illegal and was engaging with some individuals who are not of the utmost character.”
• On March 21 at 12:44 p.m. in the 5900 block of Jesse Owens Avenue, Michael Kimbrough, 48, was killed. “This occurred in the street and this most like was due to some of his previous dealings as well,’’ the chief said.
• On March 22 at 2:09 a.m. at 3629 Hemlock Avenue S.W., Frederick Sykes, 44, was killed. “He was specifically targeted due to his dealing with narcotics,’’ the chief said. “His door was kicked in and this homicide occurred inside his residence.”
• On March 26 at 12:14 p.m. on Iota Avenue, 17-year-old Caleb Whitt was killed. “Unfortunately, Mr. Whitt was with a group of people that were shooting into a home and some individuals returned fire, unfortunately striking Mr. Whitt,’’ Thurmond said. “There again, we have a 17-year-old engaging in illegal activity, possessing a firearm, and he lost his life. This could have been prevented had Mr. Whitt not been engaging in that type of activity.” A suspect has been identified.
• On March 26 at 5:55 p.m. at the Circle K on Tallapoosa Street, 25-year-old Demetrius Davis Jr. was killed. Byron Steele, 51, is charged with capital murder. “Mr. Steele’s son was shot in a previous situation. Mr. Steele believed that the Birmingham Police Department was not taking enough action and in reality, Mr. Steele’s son, who is an adult, refused to cooperate with police,’’ Thurmond said. “So, Mr. Steele took matters into his own hands which now has resulted in him being in the Jefferson County Jail for capital murder.
• On March 28 at 9:30 a.m. outside of 513 12th Street S.W., Sidney Cornell Saxton, 37, was killed. “He was engaged in a shootout with two other individuals,’’ Thurmond said. “We currently have one male on an investigative hold. There again, engaging in activities they shouldn’t have been engaging in led to Mr. Saxton’s death.”
• On March 29 at 2:24 a.m. at 30th Street Ensley and Avenue F, 16-year-old Jada Mahogany White was killed. “She was three other 17-year-old females. They’d been out drinking, driving around and were damaging a vehicle when someone began shooting at them and unfortunately, she lost her life,’’ Thurmond said.

“I hope you see that breaking these cases down one by one, these are senseless homicides,’’ he said. “There are at least nine families that have been absolutely devastated and ruined by the deaths of these individuals and there will continue to be more, unfortunately, until people stop and think about their actions – what they’re doing and who they are doing it with.”