Man shot, killed in downtown Plymouth following ‘minor traffic incident’

A “beautiful fall night” in downtown Plymouth was marred by what witnesses described as “three to four gunshots” in a downtown parking lot, which left one local man dead and another arrested and charged with his murder.

David Jerome, 23, of Plymouth was arrested Friday night and charged in the shooting that took place at around 5:45 p.m. in a Middle Street parking lot surrounded by bars and restaurants. He was charged with murder and various gun charges, as well as reckless endangerment as a child as he had his 18-month-old son with him when the violence went down.

He is scheduled to be arraigned at Plymouth District Court on Monday morning.

Jerome is accused of fatally shooting Brent Berkley, 41, of Plymouth, following what the preliminary investigation believes to have been at first a minor traffic incident followed by an altercation between the two men and then the shooting. Jerome had a legal license to carry before it was suspended following his arrest, which suggests he did not have a felony record since he had an LTC.

All of that’s according to Plymouth District Attorney Tim Cruz who this afternoon held a press conference inside the Plymouth Police Department building to lay out the details of how the “beautiful night in the downtown Plymouth area, beautiful fall night … all of a sudden that was destroyed.”

Cruz said the investigation is still in its early stages and so he didn’t want to commit to specific details as investigators were still trying to corroborate eyewitness statements. He said that Berkley was driving a Jeep SUV and Jerome was driving a Toyota Rav4 and “were involved in a minor traffic incident and a physical altercation between the two ensued before the shooting occurred.”

Cruz said that people need to take extra caution to not “let things blow up out of proportion.”

“I just think that we live in a world now where many people have short fuses and terrible things happen very quickly, they escalate very quickly,” Cruz said. “Look at the aftermath, look at how one family has lost somebody forever, another family will be dealing with significant issues. It affects the community.

“Plymouth is America’s hometown for a reason, because it is a beautiful area and people really do take care of it and, I think, respect it,” he added. “Last night was a beautiful evening and then all of a sudden that was destroyed in downtown Plymouth.”