Tallahassee police have arrested a 25-year-old man on a second-degree murder charge in the fatal shooting at the Jackson Masonic Lodge early on Saturday, Oct. 31, a quick development in the city’s latest homicide amid a violent stretch of gunfire.

Deronco V. Parker Jr. was taken into custody at about 10:44 a.m. Oct. 31 – roughly nine hours after police responded to the shooting, according to a Tallahassee Police Department news release.

Police said detectives identified Parker as the suspect after an investigation by TPD’s Violent Crime Unit. Investigators said the shooting unfolded after Parker and the victim encountered each other and became involved in a verbal altercation.

Tallahassee Police Department in action at crime scenes, crashes

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The Tallahassee Police Department investigates a mass shooting that occurred overnight at the Parkway Center shopping plaza Sunday, May 12, 2024. (Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat)

During the argument, Parker allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot the man multiple times, according to police.

Officers responded to the Jackson Masonic Lodge on Apalachee Parkway at about 1:39 a.m. Oct. 30 and found the victim suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Officers attempted lifesaving measures before the man was taken to a local hospital, where he died.

The victim’s identity was not disclosed in TPD’s update.

Parker was located and arrested with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service and TPD’s Violent Crime and Career Criminal units.

The arrest marks a major update to the shooting reported earlier by the Tallahassee Democrat, when police were investigating the case as a homicide. The shooting added to a particularly violent October and came on the heels of a cluster of shootings across the state capital.

The latest homicide brought the toll to at least 16 people shot in six incidents since Oct. 24, though police determined one was an accidental discharge and another was a Stand Your Ground case.

The violent stretch began Oct. 24 with the mass shooting near Florida A&M University’s Bragg Memorial Stadium following the university’s homecoming football game, in which 11 people were injured, including six children.

Gunfire was reported again the following evening at a Walgreens in northeast Tallahassee, though police and prosecutors quickly determined it was a “Stand Your Ground” case that began in the parking lot after a man “aggressively approached” another man, who allegedly shot him in self-defense.

A man was also wounded the next next morning in a shooting in the 1000 block of Bronough Street. Few details are known about that incident.

Then, on Oct. 27, a person was wounded at the West 10 student apartments on West Tennessee Street. Police later determined that shooting was an accidental discharge rather than an intentional shooting, according to previous Democrat reporting.

On Wednesday, Oct. 28, another man was critically wounded in a shooting at Magnolia Terrace Apartments on Magnolia Drive. A witness said a man was shot in the head by someone in a vehicle before the car sped off.

The investigation into Saturday’s shooting remains open and active.

So far this year, 14 people have been killed and 47 have been injured in at least 52 serious shootings in the capital city and Leon County, according to a Tallahassee Democrat analysis of gun violence that tracks incidents involving injury, death or a clear risk of serious harm.

Police said the investigation remains ongoing and asked anyone with information about criminal activity to call TPD at 850-891-4200 or Crime Solvers anonymously at 850-574-TIPS.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Man arrested in fatal Tallahassee Masonic lodge shooting