A manhunt is underway for a murder suspect after one person was stabbed to death and seven others were injured in the British city of Birmingham in the early hours of Sunday morning.
In four separate attacks which appeared to be "random," Chief Superintendent Steve Graham of the U.K.'s West Midlands Police, told a news conference that one man died, two people were taken to hospital with critical injuries and five more suffered minor injuries.
Each a short distance apart, the stabbings took place between 12:30 a.m. local time (7:30 p.m. ET) and 2:20 a.m. (9:20 p.m. ET) in the center of the city in central England with a population of 2.5 million, Graham said.
No arrests had been made and investigators were looking for one male suspect, with "significant resources" being put into tracing him, Graham said.
"Already we've got people going down drains, we've got that level of detailed searches taking place which will hopefully reassure the people that we are doing everything we can do to trace the offender," he said before dismissing the idea that the attacks were "terror related."
He added that they were still looking for a possible motive, but it appeared the victims were attacked at random.
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A witness told the BBC's Radio Five Live that she thought it was "one group of boys against another group of boys."
"They were not just having an argument and then fighting, it was straight into fists being thrown. There was not much talking going on."
She added that "rings were falling off so jewelry was going everywhere, clothes were being torn."
As the search continued, Graham said that there was an increased police presence in Birmingham's city center.
He added that there was no suggestion that the stabbings were gang-related or a hate crime.
