Loved ones are speaking out after a pregnant Louisiana teenager was shot in the head during an alleged road rage incident last month. Before she passed away, doctors delivered her baby through an emergency C-section.
The incident happened on Sunday, Aug. 24, around 9 a.m., when 17-year-old Katelynn Strate — who was about 28 weeks pregnant — was riding in a Ford Expedition with two others in the Ponchatoula area north of New Orleans, according to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Police say Katelynn’s vehicle encountered Barry West, 54, who was driving a silver Dodge truck. An initial statement claimed the two vehicles were tailgating and brake-checking each other. But Katie Cancienne Liebert, a close family friend, says that is not true. She insists that Katelynn’s boyfriend, 19-year-old Alain Cruz — the father of her baby — was not brake-checking and did not escalate the situation.
According to authorities, West fired one shot into Katelynn’s vehicle, hitting her as she sat in the front passenger seat. Investigators later confirmed no one in Katelynn’s car had a weapon and that no other shots were fired.
When Cruz realized Katelynn had been shot, he immediately called 911 and drove her to the hospital.
“The baby’s father is getting death threats and being told he deserves to die because he put his pregnant girlfriend in danger, when in reality, that day, he was a hero,” Liebert told PEOPLE.
Liebert described the heartbreaking scene: “He’s a 19-year-old kid, and he watched his 17-year-old girlfriend, who he’s in love with, get shot in the head. She was staring at him the whole way to the hospital, struggling to breathe, holding his hand.”
On Monday, Aug. 25, the sheriff’s office said Katelynn’s baby had been delivered by emergency C-section and was in stable condition at a neonatal intensive care unit. The following day, officials confirmed that Katelynn had died. Her family chose to donate her organs, saying in a statement: “Her generosity will save lives, and we are immensely proud of her for that final act of kindness.”
They called her death a “preventable tragedy” that deserves justice.
Over the weekend, the family had held a baby shower. They have since chosen to donate extra baby gifts to the Restoration House Pregnancy Resource Center in Hammond, Louisiana, to support other mothers.
Liebert remembered Katelynn as funny, outgoing, and always quick with comebacks. “When you were around her, it was just laughter,” she said. She also noted how excited Katelynn was to become a mom, saying she had already begun preparing for her baby’s future.
The baby girl’s name has not been shared publicly, but Liebert said that part of it means “miracle” — or milagro — in Spanish. Despite her premature birth, the baby is doing better than expected.
Katelynn’s mother, Kristen Nicole Blow, is now caring for her granddaughter and plans to co-parent alongside Cruz as he recovers from the trauma. “Katelynn’s old bedroom — they’re keeping her bed so that he [Cruz] can come over whenever and sleep in that bed and be with his baby,” Liebert explained.
West was first arrested on multiple counts of attempted second-degree murder, as well as illegal use of a weapon and obstruction of justice. After Katelynn’s death, the charges were upgraded to include second-degree murder. It is not yet clear if West has entered a plea or hired an attorney.
“We want him charged to the fullest extent of the law,” Liebert said. “They don’t want him to have the death penalty. They want him to stay in prison without the possibility of parole.”
A GoFundMe to support Katelynn’s family has raised more than $55,000.
