DAVIE, Fla. – A driver who was killed in a shootout with another man on a busy Davie road Friday afternoon acted in self-defense, police said.
Sgt. Mark Leone, a spokesman for the Davie Police Department, said Keith Byrne, 41, was on the phone with a friend while driving a utility truck on Flamingo Road when he accidentally cut off a blue BMW.
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When Byrne stopped at a red light on Eighth Street and rolled down the window to apologize, a passenger in the BMW got out, armed with a gun, and approached Byrne's truck, Leone said.
The friend who was on the phone with Byrne throughout the ordeal heard Byrne say, "My bad," before the call was disconnected, Leone said.
Byrne and the man in the BMW, later identified as Andre Sinclair Jr., 22, exchanged gunfire, Leone said.
Byrne was shot in the chest and died at the scene, while Sinclair, who police said was in the BMW with his baby and his baby's mother, later died at Broward Health Medical Center.
"We are in shock, all of us. We are all just numb," Byrne's mother, Irene Colavolpe, said. "He was a wonderful son. He was a great guy."
Relatives said Byrne was on the way to see his mother when the shooting occurred.
Byrne's family told News 6 partner Local 10 News that he leaves behind three children -- a 21-year-old son and two daughters, ages 19 and 17. They said he was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
"It is tough because he is the one who actually held everything together," Byrne's son, Justyn Byrne, said.
Police said both drivers had concealed weapons permits and that Sinclair was the primary aggressor.
Authorities said he would have been charged with murder if he had survived the shooting.
Leone warned drivers who find themselves in a similar situation "just to leave the area, even if you have to turn on a different street."