A murder investigation has been launched after a schoolboy was killed in Birmingham – the second 16-year-old to be fatally stabbed in the city in a week.

The teenager was discovered with fatal injuries on Herbert Road in the Small Heath area of the city at about 8pm on Wednesday. A 15-year-old boy was treated for minor injuries by paramedics after he was assaulted.

Calls for an increased police presence were made by the local councillor Zaheer Khan. “I feel that lack of police resources means people believe they can do whatever they want,” he said. “Last summer, we had a spate of stabbings and murders in Small Heath … Personally, since those incidents, I have written to police several times about a lack of visible police presence.”

The death comes after Sidali Mohammed, 16, was stabbed on Wednesday outside Joseph Chamberlain College in Balsall Heath. The teenager, whose family had fled Somalia when he was a toddler, died in hospital two days later.

The latest stabbings come after a spotlight fell last year on the extent of knife crime in the West Midlands, and its impact on young people in particular.

The fatal stabbing in Coventry last November of 16-year-old Jaydon Washington James brought the number of teenagers and children killed by knives in the West Midlands police force area to six in 2018, more per capita than in London and a 40-year high.

Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, tweeted: “Waking up to news of another young man murdered on edge of my constituency.Will seek emergency meetings with Home Sec & we are already meeting with Local Govt ministers next week, they hollowed away our youth services/early intervention, they must make reparations to my community.”

Speaking on Wednesday as he unveiled a “knife bin” in Walsall, part of a network of such facilities around the West Midlands designed to encourage people to give up their knives, the police and crime commissioner for the area, David Jamieson, said: “We really have got a problem, particularly with young men and boys, getting involved in knife crime.”

“This is part of the effort we are making now, working in schools and with community groups to reduce this very nasty problem,” he added.

DCI Edward Foster, from the force’s homicide team, said on Thursday: “The investigation is in its early stages and we are keen to hear from anyone who was in Herbert Road or Sara Park at just before 8pm last night. A teenager has sadly lost his life and another was assaulted. We are working hard to establish the circumstances around what happened.”

Police said a cordon was in place while inquiries were being carried out in the area. The force is appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

Yasmin Akhtar, a support worker who lives locally and has a 10-year-old son, said said: “I have a son and I really fear what is going to happen to him. Is it safe where we’re living? It’s such a shame.”

The 44-year-old, who had come to the police cordon surrounding the park, added: “My son goes to the school just here, by the park, Regents Park Primary, right by here. Last week, we had that young lad who died at Joseph Chamberlain, and another stabbing up the road. It’s a joke.

“I think we really need to do something as a community, get together. Maybe it’s us, as parents, that need to do something about it.”