Mortally wounded veteran fires back in self-defense in road rage incident

A deadly road rage shooting in Davie last week that left two men dead was completely avoidable, according to police investigators.

It happened Friday afternoon on Flamingo Road near Southwest 8th Street.

Keith Byrne, 41, was driving a utility truck when he accidentally cut off the driver of a blue BMW.

A person who was talking to Byrne on the phone at the time said Byrne waited for the BMW to pull up to the light so he could apologize.

“Driving there, I didn’t want to believe it. I figured, I would get there and he would be ‘oh there’s a misunderstanding’. He would be there and clear things up for me. But that’s not how things worked out for us,” Justyn Byrne said.

At the light, 22-year-old Andre Sinclair, who was in the passenger seat, got out of the car with a gun.

Sinclair’s girlfriend, who was driving, told police she tried to hold him back. The couple’s infant child was in the backseat.

As Sinclair approached the truck, Byrne said, “my bad.” That’s when Sinclair began shooting, according to police.

“I think I’ve been shot,” Byrne told his friend on the phone.

Byrne, who also had a gun, fired back in self-defense.

Byrne was struck in the chest and died in his truck. Sinclair, who was shot multiple times, was taken to Broward Health Medical Center where later died.

Davie police said drivers need to be aware that road rage can happen sometimes over the smallest of things.

“It’s irrelevant that we are in Davie or Broward. Road rage can happen anywhere at any time. Out there on the roads, we must share the roads with everybody. Everybody is trying to get somewhere, school, work, home, uh everybody is in a rush to get somewhere. But when we start letting our tempers get involved, bad things happen,” said Sgt. Mark Leone.

Had Sinclair lived, he would have been judged as the aggressor and charged with murder.

Relatives are planning a military service for Byrne, who served in The Marines.

“It’s comforting to know that we can all provide him that. The burden is on me but he would’ve wanted it that way because he raised me in preparation for that,” Justyn Byrne said.

The service in scheduled for June 28th in Lake Worth. A Facebook group has updates on funeral plans.