Randi McGaugh looked into the eyes of the man who shot her during a two-week trial this month in Jackson County.

Now, she has closure “I never thought I could get,” she said Thursday during an interview with The Star.

“I got to put a face to an image that I had in my brain for the longest time, of someone who shot me and killed my friend,” she said.

The jury awarded McGaugh $3 million on May 24 after a Jackson County deputy shot her in 2019. Another $7 million was awarded to the two sons of 29-year-old Allen Cates, who the deputy shot and killed in the same incident.

“It all just happened so fast,” McGaugh said. “There were shots being fired. And I remember looking up and seeing Deputy Naudet, Tyler Naudet, shooting at my car with his gun, towards myself and Allen. And I remember Allen, the last words he said. And then I remember him laying there and them working on him.”

Cates was declared dead at the scene.

McGaugh, of Excelsior Springs, was taken to a hospital where she was treated. She was discharged the next day and taken to jail, though she was released shortly thereafter and no charges were ever filed, her attorney Tom Porto said.

Jackson County Counselor Bryan Covinsky said the county had no comment on the case, but plans to appeal the verdict.

Shooting in Independence

McGaugh and Cates had been friends for a few months. They met through mutual friends.

“Then that day came like a bombshell,” she said.

On Sept. 12, 2019, Naudet and several Independence Police Department officers arrived at East 25th Street and Hawthorne Avenue in Independence, where Cates and McGaugh were in a parked car in front of a residence. The officers planned to take Cates into custody on a felony warrant. He was a suspect in a series of car break-ins.

The officers exited their patrol vehicle, and Cates’ vehicle began to roll back. Naudet fired five times as the car began moving forward. Four of the shots went through the windshield. A fifth was never located.

“It was so reckless,” Porto said. “(Naudet) had no idea what he was shooting. He still has no idea where all the bullets went.”

McGaugh and Keri Groves, the mother of Cates’ children, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Naudet and Jackson County in July 2020.

Groves met Cates in high school.

“The Allen that I knew was loving and caring,” she said.

She saw a side of him that others didn’t and “he was just somebody that I really loved,” she said.

Their oldest son was 9 when Cates was killed. Groves was pregnant with their second son when he died.

After the shooting, she suffered from depression and their eldest son had nightmares, she said.

Trial and verdict

Groves attended the trial, which began May 13 at the Jackson County courthouse in Independence.

A long table was placed in front of Jackson County Judge Cory Atkins’ bench, where both the plaintiffs and the defendants sat.

During opening statements, Amanda Langenheim, an attorney for Naudet, told jurors the arrest was supposed to be a simple felony apprehension, she said, but it didn’t turn out that way because of how Cates reacted.

According to Langenheim, officers were yelling commands at Cates, who put the car in drive and headed “directly” toward the deputy.

Porto said throughout the trial, the defense wanted to cast Cates in a negative light.

“I felt like the defense was trying to diminish the value of someone’s life just because they’ve struggled with addiction,” he said.

For years, McGaugh had resisted the idea of being in court during the trial.

Slowly, support from her family and Porto led her to change her mind.

“I’ve grown and I’ve healed,” she said. “I’ve been going to therapy.”

She’s found strength and joy in her daughter, who is now three, and in being five years sober.

McGaugh testified on May 21.

Earlier in the trial, she had been emotional, breaking down at the table while a recording of the shooting was played for jurors.

But that morning, she said, she woke up feeling encouraged. Porto said she had a calmness to her.

Naudet also testified, as did Sara Cates, Allen Cates’ older sister.

The siblings were close growing up and as adults.

“He was my go-to person,” she said. They were best friends and she would call him for everything, from dinner plans to when she left her keys in the car or after a guy broke her heart, she said.

“Allen’s loss changed me as a person,” she said. “Part of me went with Allen. It was traumatic.”

According to McGaugh, after Allen Cates had been shot, he looked at her and said he was sorry things had happened the way they did and to tell his sister that he loves her. Then he closed his eyes.

The legal process, Sara Cates said, delayed the healing process, and the trial reopened wounds.

After closing arguments on May 23, the jury deliberated the next day for about five hours.

The $10 million verdict was “as much justice as our legal system allows,” Sara Cates said. For her, it was still hard to celebrate in that moment. In more recent days, she said she has felt some peace and comfort.

Groves said she felt a sense of justice, but “I’d rather have him here.”

McGaugh said she believes she got justice for herself and Allen Cates. She plans to help her parents and support her daughter so she can “live the life that I always dreamed of for her.”

But McGaugh also thinks Naudet should be held accountable by not being allowed to carry a gun or a badge.

He remains employed with the sheriff’s office.