BATON ROUGE - After being shot during what’s being investigated as a road rage incident, a 17-year-old has died, according to her family.

Katelynn Strate was seven months pregnant and had to have an emergency C-section after being hit in the head with a bullet, and her baby is in the NICU without a name or mother.

In two months, Katelynn Strate was expected to start her life as a mother.

"She was ready to be a mom," Katie Cancienne, a family friend, said.

Sunday morning, Katelyn Strate, along with her boyfriend and another teenager, was driving down Hoover Road towards the interstate. That’s when the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s office says Barry West, 54, and the driver in Strate’s car started brake-checking and tailgating each other.

Deputies said West fired shots into the other car, hitting Strate in the head. She was rushed to the hospital and put on life support. In an effort to save her baby, hospital staff performed an emergency C-section.

West was originally charged with attempted second-degree murder, one count of illegal use of a weapon, and obstruction of justice. TPSO officials said his attempted murder charge was upgraded to second-degree murder after receiving official confirmation of Strate's passing.

"The remaining three counts of Attempted 2nd Degree Murder remain, along with one count each of Illegal Use of a Weapon and Obstruction of Justice," TPSO said in a news release Tuesday night.

The baby was delivered at 27 weeks and is in the NICU and is reportedly healthy. The family is asking for assistance covering funeral costs for Katelyn Strate.

Tangipahoa Sheriff Gerald Sticker says there’s no excuse for what happened to the young mother.

“You've got a baby that doesn't have a mother, and you've got an individual that, at the very least, can't control his temper or his actions that will probably never see the light of day again,” Sticker said.

Sticker says on social media, there were reports that West had acted aggressively toward others while driving. He says if anyone has experienced a road rage incident with West, they’re asked to call TPSO.

As for Strate’s family, there’s another life just beginning for a baby with no name.

“It's very hard to form the words of how hard it is that her life was taken,” Cancienne said.

From 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Katelynn’s family is accepting donations for her baby girl at First United Methodist Church. Any duplicate items will be donated to a local non-profit to help other mothers in need. Meanwhile, her family has arranged to have Strate’s organs donated.