'Parents need to be parents': Birmingham police chief speaks on murders of two students
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBMA) — One girl is dead and a woman is injured after a shooting in Ensley in the 3000 block of Avenue F around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The girl was identified as 16-year-old Jada Mahogany White. The other victim's injuries are described as life-threatening.
White was the second student from Jackson-Olin High School to be killed this week. Police said there is no connection between the two incidents and there are currently no suspects in custody.
Officers believe there was an argument before the shots were fired.
The Birmingham Police Department held a news conference Wednesday morning to address the shooting and other recent homicides.
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“The best context I can give you is last night's," Birmingham police chief Scott Thurmond said during the press conference. "We have one of the females passed out, throwing up in our police car and throwing up here when we bring her up for questioning. She’s unable to speak. They are juveniles and we cant find their parents. One of the females even told us I don’t have time to deal with this I have to go home, I have to be home by 7 a.m. Well 7 a.m. isn’t an acceptable curfew.”
You can watch the full news conference below.
The community is also struggling to find solutions, believing their children could be in danger anywhere in the area.
"Stay praying," Michael Oates said. "You never know, you could be going to the store, driving down the street, stray bullets."
Oates said that is what he tells his young children. He lives in Ensley nearby where White was shot Wednesday morning.
“It’s scary for us because we have young kids here," Oates said. "It seems like every day you turn the news on, you hear about someone young losing their life to gun violence and it needs to stop.”
Thurmond said no one in the community is helping law enforcement find justice in these cases. There is a curfew for juveniles in the city of Birmingham.
"Parents need to be parents, that’s the harsh reality of it," Thurmond said. "These children didn’t ask to be brought in the world, they were brought into the world and now there are people who are responsible for them and they need to be responsible for their children."
Thurmond continued along those lines, saying there's only so much the police department can do for the kids. He said police officers "aren't going to babysit your children."
"You would think everyone wants the best for their children," Thurmond said. "So you have to make hard decisions so they can have the best life possible. And so being responsible for them, it's hard, it's tough, you have to tell them 'hey you have to be home by a certain time, if you're not home at a certain time, there are consequences.' You have to invoke those consequences and make sure they’re adhered to. The parents are the police of children, the police are the police of the community.”
