Katelynn Strate, a 17-year-old Louisiana teenager, lost her life after being shot in the head during a suspected road rage incident on Sunday. Strate was critically wounded while riding in the passenger seat of a car with her boyfriend on North Hoover Road, near Hammond, just north of New Orleans. The couple was reportedly driving to her boyfriend’s mother’s house when a confrontation with another vehicle, a silver Dodge pickup truck, turned deadly. According to police, the two vehicles began tailgating and brake-checking each other before the pickup’s driver, 54-year-old Barry West, allegedly opened fire. Strate was struck in the head, and rushed to a hospital where doctors performed an emergency C-section, delivering her daughter two months early at just 3 pounds, 11 ounces. Despite the traumatic circumstances, the baby girl was born healthy. Strate was kept on life support to ensure her baby’s survival. However, doctors later confirmed she was not expected to recover, and her family planned to remove her from life support on Tuesday. “Her mother is devastated,” said family friend Katie Cancienne. “She just lost her baby, and now she’s a grandmother.” West, who claimed he believed the other car had fired at him first, was arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder. Investigators found no weapons in Strate’s vehicle and no evidence supporting his claim. Friends and family have remembered Katelynn as a kind and vibrant soul who was deeply excited about becoming a mom. “They just had a dynamic where you could tell there was genuine love there,” Cancienne shared, speaking about Katelynn and her boyfriend. “The world’s not going to be the same kind of place without her.” Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News and around the World.