The fatal shooting of a 21-year-old Jefferson County man at a Center Point barber shop has been ruled justifiable.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on Friday announced they presented their evidence to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, which deemed no charges will be filed. Deputy Chief David Agee said the slain man - Delquan McNeily - was armed. He said statements from eyewitnesses, backed up by video, led to the decision that criminal charges in McNeily’s death weren’t warranted.

The deadly shooting happened mid-afternoon Tuesday at Corey’s Barber Shop in Center Point. Authorities said McNeily and another man got into an argument outside the shop when a third person emerged from the business and fired multiple shots, striking McNeily. The victim was pronounced dead on the scene at 1:50 p.m. Authorities said they are not releasing the nature of the initial argument.

Delquan McNeily (Facebook)

The location is in a highly-populated commercial area surrounded by other businesses. Nearby workers reported hearing at least five to six shots fired, and then saw a vehicle speed away from the area.

Dozens of McNeily’s friends and family members gathered outside the crime scene tape, visibly and audibly emotional. Among the mourners was 25-year-old Derrick Marks who, just hours later, was fatally gunned down in a separate shooting in Irondale. “They were best friends,’’ said Catrina Carey, Marks’ mother mother. “He (McNeily) used to be at my home all the time. They were very close. He was very sweet. He was the one in the bunch that never talked. He was on the timid side.”

When Marks returned from Center Point crime scene, he and his mother met up again at their home. That is when Carey suggested he stay in. But Marks got a call and quickly began to load up his PlayStation, headed to Hunter Ridge where he and his friends would meet and play for money.

Carey said she believes her son was then ambushed, and said she thinks the friends’ deaths just hours apart was coincidence. “In my heart, I don’t feel like one had anything to do with the other,’’ she said. “Whoever called him knew he was bringing money and I feel like it was a setup.”

Marks left their home about 6 p.m. and was gravely wounded just 15 minutes later. At least 30 shell casings were marked as evidence in the apartment complex parking lot. Though Marks was found sitting in a vehicle, investigators don’t believe he was in that vehicle when he was shot.

Carey said a bullet struck her son in the leg and traveled upward internally to his heart. He was pronounced dead at St. Vincent’s East at 7:13 p.m. An arrest has not yet been announced in Marks’ slaying.