A Marine vet cut off another driver. Before he could apologize, they had shot and killed each other

Two Florida men shot and killed each other in a road rage incident that started when one driver, a Marine veteran, unintentionally cut off another, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The veteran, Keith Byrne, was on the phone with a friend when he cut off the vehicle Andre Sinclair was riding in, which was being driven by his girlfriend. A toddler was also in the vehicle.

Byrne, realizing what he had done, allegedly expressed intent to apologize for the incident at the next stop light, according to the friend he was talking to on the phone.

The friend said he "heard his friend Keith say, 'My bad,' in making an attempt to apologize," according to police. "At that time over the phone he heard the gunshots and Mr. Byrne said, 'I think I've been shot,' started slurring his speech, and then the phone call was disconnected."

He didn't get the chance, however, because Sinclair got out of the car, approached Byrne and shot him directly in the chest.

His girlfriend was reportedly pleading with him not to get out of the vehicle before he shot Byrne.

Byrne, who was also armed but severely wounded, pulled out his own gun and shot Sinclair twice. Byrne died at the scene, while Sinclair died a few days later at the hospital. Both men were licensed to carry concealed firearms.

Police said Byrne acted in justified self defense when he fatally shot Sinclair. They also said that, had he survived, Sinclair would've been charged with murder.

Davie Police Sgt. Mark Leone said the "pointless and silly" deaths were completely avoidable, and warned others against allowing emotions to overwhelm them on the road.

"It's irrelevant that we are in Davie or Broward. Road rage can happen anywhere at any time," Leone told WFOR-TV. "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."