“Devastating tragedy” family of road rage shooting victim talks, baby pulls through

PONCHATOULA, La. (WGNO) — Family and friends of Katelynn Strate are still trying to come to terms with the fact that she is gone.

“Katelynn was someone’s sister. This baby’s mother. Someone’s daughter. She could have been anybody. She didn’t do anything to provoke this,’ said family friend Katie Liebert.

A road rage incident on Sunday morning along North Hoover Road in Tangipahoa Parish has wrecked a Ponchatoula family, as 17-year-old girl Katelynn Strate has passed.

Liebert says the hardest call Katelyn’s mother had to make was to remove her daughter from life support.

“She’s hysterical, she’s crying. She can’t, you know, answer the phone for no one. She can’t answer the phone for her family. She’s grieving. She’s in a state of tragedy, of shock,” said Liebert.

Strate’s unborn child was successfully delivered at 28 weeks and is doing well, thanks in part to the baby’s father. He rushed the pregnant teen to the hospital after the shooting.

“She looks like Katelynn, but I see a little bit of her daddy in her. She’s not, like, incumbated or anything. She’s going to be a strong, healthy baby, 16-inches long. She’s going to be tall and gorgeous,” said Liebert.

54-year-old Barry West has been booked with several charges, including second-degree murder.

West informed investigators he believed someone in the vehicle had shot at him first, but evidence showed there were no weapons in the other car.

Liebert says the family wants to raise awareness about road rage, not wanting what happened to Katelynn to happen to anyone else.

Sheriff Gerald Sticker assures West isn’t going anywhere, explaining they are working diligently to find out exactly what happened that morning.

“Both sides have their version. There are no other vehicles in the area. We have no other witnesses who were known. Whoever started it, whoever didn’t, there’s never an excuse to pull a gun and start shooting,” said Sticker.

The family is planning a community baby shower for Saturday to help Katelynn’s mother at First United Methodist Church in Ponchatoula. It’ll be from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

The family has started a GoFundMe to help cover funeral expenses for Katelynn, medical bills, and the essential baby items needed by her grandmother, who will now be caring for the baby.

“On the subject of the suspect, if anyone believes they have had a similar encounter with this suspect in the past, please contact our Criminal Investigations Division at (985) 902-2088 to file an official report,” TPSO officials added.

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