New Mexico State University basketball coaches and players avoided police questioning, left town by bus, and kept a gun that was used by a player in a fatal shooting at a rival school, according to a new report.
On Nov. 19, Mike Peake, starting forward for NMSU, was lured to a University of New Mexico campus dorm room by three students and a 17-year-old girl, leading to a shooting that left one dead and Peake injured. Peake was at UNM for a basketball game between the two schools that was to happen later that day.
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New information about the coaches’ role in avoiding police has come to light since the shooting. Details obtained by local outlet KOAT show that NMSU coaches and their players left town on a university-owned bus as police were trying to interview them and find the gun.
The bus was heading back to the NMSU campus in Las Cruces when a police detective used lights and a siren to chase the bus and pull it over to obtain evidence. Upon pulling the bus over, assistant coach Lorenzo Jenkins gave police Peake’s laptop but stated he did not know where Peake’s phone was and refused to allow the detective to speak to the players, citing the need for an attorney, according to the outlet.
The same detective later caught up with assistant coach Dominque Taylor at a Doubletree Hotel in Albuquerque, where Taylor had the gun wrapped up in a towel.
Peake, who killed UNM student Brandon Travis in an apparent self-defense shooting, according to authorities, has been suspended from the NMSU team indefinitely.
Travis and the other students had plotted to lure the 21-year-old player to the UNM campus and assault him, stemming from an altercation that occurred weeks before at the UNM-NMSU football game in Las Cruces, according to the Associated Press. Peake shot Travis four times, killing him, while he himself was shot in the leg.
After the shooting, Peake is captured on video placing items, including the gun he used, into the back of a yellow Camaro. Teammates Issa Muhammad, Marcelus Avery, and Anthony Roy met Peake to take the items, but it is unknown who was driving the vehicle.
Police approached coach Greg Heiar while they were still in Albuquerque about questioning the three players, but the coach delayed the interview, stating he needed to speak with the athletic director about attorneys for the players. Detectives repeatedly tried to contact Heiar and Taylor without receiving an answer. That’s when the team took off on the bus.
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NMSU hired a third-party investigator to review the events surrounding the shooting. The 17-year-old girl and one of the UNM students are charged in connection with the attack on Peake.
NMSU and the New Mexico Department of Public Safety did not respond to inquiries from the Washington Examiner regarding the investigation.
