Manhunt launched for ‘multiple shooter’ after at least 4 dead and 18 injured in Birmingham

Early Sunday, police in Birmingham, Alabama, said they had begun a manhunt for the “multiple shooters” who killed four people and injured 18 others when they “shot at a large group of people.”

At least four of the injured were “critically” injured, said Truman Fitzgerald, a Birmingham police officer, at a press conference a few hours after the incident, which he said occurred in one of the city's “most popular entertainment districts.”

Fitzgerald said officers arrived at the scene shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday “when they observed two adult males and one adult female lying unconscious on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound.”

Paramedics “pronounced them dead at the scene,” he said, adding that the fourth victim was pronounced dead at nearby UAB Hospital.

“We believe multiple shooters fired multiple shots at a group of people,” he said. “Our investigators are working to determine whether the shooters approached the victims or drove past in a vehicle. We need the public's help to do this,” he added.

“No one is in custody,” he said. “Rest assured, we will do everything in our power to ensure that we uncover, identify and bring to justice those responsible for the attacks on our people,” he added.

Fitzgerald did not speculate on a motive, but said investigators were “told that all of the victims were outside on the sidewalk or street. So this group of shooters shot at these victims while they were outside. We were not told this happened in a store.”

In a later statement, police said they believed the shooting “was not accidental, but was an isolated incident in which several victims were caught in the crossfire.”

He also called on businesses with surveillance cameras in the area to review their footage and provide investigators with anything relevant.

The department said it was working with the FBI and ATF on the investigation.

This is the second mass shooting in the city this year. In July, four people were killed in a nightclub.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com.