A “beautiful autumn night” in Plymouth city center was marred by what witnesses described as “three to four gunshots” in a city center car park, 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 happened 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 child endangerment, because he had his 18-month-old son with him when the violence went down.

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

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

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

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

Cruz said people need to be more cautious to “not let things blow out of proportion.”

“I think we live in a world now where a lot of people have short fuses and terrible things happen very quickly, they escalate very quickly,” Cruz said. “Look at the consequences, look at how one family has lost someone forever, another family will face significant problems. It affects the community.

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