On a Tuesday afternoon in the Birmingham, Alabama area, a young Black man named DelQuan J McNeily, 21, lost his life. The events unfolded on February 25, 2020, outside of a barbershop in Center Point. An argument between McNeily and another individual began to heat up, quickly escalating into a physical fight. As the two were embroiled in the altercation, a third person emerged from the barbershop and fired a gun multiple times at McNeily, who was struck by the bullets and died at the scene.
Witnesses reported hearing five to six gunshots.
Immediately following the shooting, the gunman reportedly fled the area in a dark-colored Toyota Camry. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office launched a homicide investigation into McNeily's death. They collected statements from witnesses to understand the sequence of events that led to the fatal shooting. After a thorough investigation of the incident, the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office determined that the shooting was justified. As a result of this ruling, no charges were filed against the person who shot DelQuan McNeily.
In a tragic and compounding turn of events, the violence that touched DelQuan McNeily's life did not end with his death. Just six hours after McNeily was killed, his close friend, 25-year-old Derrick Marks Jr., was also fatally shot. Marks had been mourning the loss of his friend earlier in the day when he himself became a victim of gun violence in a separate incident at an apartment complex in Irondale, about six miles away.
