The state will not press charges in the shooting deaths of two men in Lewiston last month, saying a third man involved in the incident shot and killed one of the men in defense of the other.

Police responded to Knox Street about 10:15 a.m. July 30 in response to a call for help.

An investigation revealed that Mohamed Sheikh, 30, of Auburn and Keyt Hussein, 23, of Lewiston, had been “in an escalating feud in the days leading up to their deaths,” according to the Maine Department of Public Safety.

On July 30, Sheikh found Hussein sitting in a parked car on Knox Street and shot Hussein multiple times as he tried to get out of the car, police said.

That’s when Mohamed Liban, 24, of Lewiston, who was sitting in the backseat of the vehicle, shot Sheikh multiple times from the car’s rear window, according to police.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office determined that Liban shot Sheikh in defense of Hussein, so there will be no prosecution.