BATON ROUGE — Prede Albert says the moment he found out his daughter had been killed, he lost his breath.
He lost his sanity. Nothing has been the same since.
His daughter, 25-year-old Prenesha Wagner, was caught in the crossfire of a chaotic shootout outside an after-hours club on Choctaw Drive early Sunday morning. She wasn’t the target. She wasn’t armed. She was just trying to run.
“She was me,” Albert said, his voice trembling. “She had my goofy side, always joking, always dancing on TikTok. But she also had her mother’s sweet side. She was our baby.”
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The night that changed everything
Prenesha was one of six people shot in a barrage of gunfire that erupted just after 1:30 a.m. Police say a fight between women in the parking lot turned into a broader altercation, with multiple shooters firing off over 160 rounds of ammunition. Baton Rouge Police Chief T.J. Morse confirmed that an officer, arriving to find gunfire erupting, discharged two rounds in the direction of an armed suspect. Investigators believe Prenesha was trying to get away when a bullet struck her down.
“She was just trying to make it to her car,” Albert said. “She died in the middle of the street. My sister, Cassandra, was there—she saw it all. And she didn’t even know at the time that it was her niece lying there. Nobody knew in that moment. Everyone was just trying to take cover.”
“I dropped the phone. I couldn’t breathe”
Albert said he had just returned home from the hospital, where he’d been keeping watch over another one of his sisters. He missed several calls before finally speaking to a family member who broke the unimaginable news.
“I dropped the phone. I couldn’t breathe,” he recalled. “I just kept saying, ‘Not my baby. Please, not my baby.’”
Prenesha, he said, was a part of a local riding group. She worked hard, lived joyfully, and loved to ride. Her weekends were filled with music, friends, and moments that, now, feel like a lifetime ago.
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Albert’s grief has now turned into frustration—frustration with how quickly the scene escalated, and with how his daughter’s name has been mentioned in narratives that he believes are more about placing blame than seeking truth.
“I want people to stop trying to use my daughter’s death to hurt the club owner,” he said. “That man didn’t kill my daughter. She had nothing to do with whatever issues they’re trying to stir up. Just let my baby rest.”
On Monday, Chief Morse said Prenesha was not involved in the shooting.
A 15-year-old has now been arrested, accused of the deadly shooting that left Prenesha dead and five others wounded. Police recovered six firearms and towed eight vehicles believed to contain additional weapons.
While Morse praised the officer’s response, calling it “brave,” Albert questions whether police involvement only intensified the gunfire.
“When the officer fired, that’s when it all went crazy,” Albert said. “I’m not saying what they did or didn’t do, but the second those shots rang out, everyone started shooting.”
According to police, they responded to the chaotic scene and worked to bring order to the situation.
Now, as investigators work to piece together the chaos of that morning, Albert is left holding on to memories. The sound of her laughter. The sight of her dancing on social media. The way she mixed both her parents’ spirits into one unforgettable soul.
“I just want justice”
“She was everything good in me. She was everything strong in her mama,” he said. “And now she’s gone.”
Prenesha’s family is planning a celebration of her life, but her father says no service will ever fill the hole her death has left behind.
“I just want justice,” Albert said. “Not just who fired the bullet that killed her—but justice for the kind of life she was living. She deserved better than to die like that.”
If you have any information, videos, or photos from the scene, Baton Rouge Police urge you to come forward or contact Crime Stoppers.
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