A 23-year-old man accused of fatally shooting another driver after a fender-bending in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Friday pleaded not guilty at his arraignment.
A man accused of shooting and killing another man in a parking lot in Plymouth, Massachusetts, appeared in court on Monday.
Authorities say it all started with two relatively minor traffic incidents that quickly escalated into a deadly, point blank shooting.
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Three to four gunshots is what some say they heard Friday just before 6 p.m. Several 911 calls were received for the shooting on Middle Street in downtown Plymouth. That's where officers found 41-year-old Brent Berkeley with multiple gunshot wounds.
They say Berkeley was driving a Jeep SUV that was involved in a minor accident with a Toyota RAV4 driven by 23-year-old David Jerome, with his 18-month-old child in the back seat. The two men got into a confrontation fight that ended with Jerome allegedly shooting Berkeley.
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Jerome was arrested, while Berkeley was taken to the hospital, where he died. Witnesses said they saw the suspect attempt CPR.
"My assumption is that he had realized what he had done and then tried to help the man, realized he couldn't help, backed away, and freaked out," witness Joel Burrelli said.
"People need to understand that you have to proceed cautiously, proceed carefully and protect yourselves and protect others to the extent that you can and don't let things blow up out of proportion," Plymouth District Attorney Tim Cruz said.
Jerome now faces multiple charges stemming from Friday's incident, including murder, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, reckless endangerment of a child, improper storage of a firearm, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and possession or selling a large capacity feeding device.
He pleaded not guilty Monday and was ordered held without bail. He is scheduled to return to court on Dec. 13.
Jerome's attorney, Jack Atwood, argued for lower bail, saying the shooting was in self defense.
"There were four bullet holes in the hand of the deceased, which might indicate he was reaching for the gun. As a result of that, eveything happens," Atwood said.
Prosecutors outlined the incidents that led up to the road rage shooting in court Monday, saying Jerome admitted he was with his 1-year-old son at a local brewery and had one drink before purchasing two 64-ounce growlers to go. He left and got into his vehicle, and then prior to the shooting got into an altercation with another person in a pickup truck. Witnesses said Jerome was driving the wrong way down Middle Street, a one-way street, when he and the driver of the pickup engaged in a verbal altercation.
Witnesses said both Jerome and the other man got out of their vehicles and confronted each other, with Jerome's child still in the back seat of his car. Witnesses told police and Jerome later admitted in an interview that he said something about putting the other man "in a bodybag."
Following that altercation, Jerome told police he went back to his car. He already had one gun on his hip and took another gun out of a locked gun safe in his car.
Shortly thereafter, witnesses said Jerome was texting on his phone when he rear-ended a different vehicle that was right in front of him in the public parking lot off Middle Street. The driver of that vehicle, later identified as Berkeley, got out of his vehicle and confronted Jerome, who was seated in his car with his window down.
"There were words exchanged, and some witnesses and the defendant indicate Berkeley punched the defendant in the face," the prosecutor said in court Monday. "At that point, the defendant and witnesses all claim that from the seated vehicle, he put a firearm in his hand and shot Berkeley multiple times in his chest and abdomen area."
Prosecutors said Berkeley fell to the ground and Jerome got out of the vehicle with his gun in his hand and stood over the body and fired multiple other rounds, saying, "Don't move! Don't move!"
Jerome then walked back to his car and then back over to Berkeley, where he said, "Don't leave me. Don't give up," and started trying to perform CPR on him.
At this point, multiple bystanders came by, followed soon after by police, who took Jerome into custody and seized his two guns.
Massachusetts State Police later obtained search warrants for Jerome's home. Prosecutors said he did have a valid license to carry a firearm, but had four rifle magazines in his home, three of which had 30 rounds in them, in violation of Massachusetts law mandating a 10-round limit. They also found a pistol magazine with 9mm rounds and a rifle magazine with five rounds in it.
