New Mexico State basketball coach Greg Heiar put his team on a bus back to the Aggies’ Las Cruces campus after Albuquerque police demanded to interview three of his players while that they were looking for a weapon used in a fatal shooting and other potential evidence, according to the New Mexico State Police supplementary investigative report released Thursday by ESPN.
The investigative report says Marchelus Avery, Issa Muhammad and Anthony Roy were seen on video in a yellow Camaro in the parking lot where University of New Mexico student Brandon Travis was fatally shot on November 19 by Aggies junior forward Mike Peake in what police called. a matter of self-defense. Peake, who was hospitalized after he too was shot, placed his gun, phone and tablet in the car, according to the police report.
The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday it was working with New Mexico State Police and investigating the “conduct” of Aggies coaches and players in connection with the fatal shooting. Police reports add to the scrutiny of the actions of the team and coaching staff in the hours after the shooting.
According to the documents, a 17-year-old girl goaded Peake into getting “bumped” by Travis and two of his friends because of animosity stemming from a fight at a New State football game. -Mexico and New Mexico. She sent Peake a Snapchat message that said “please hurry up,” and he took a Lyft to his dorm at the University of New Mexico, hours before he and his team were due to face off. the Lobos.
That game and a December 3 game were canceled after the shootout.
Within hours of the shooting, a New Mexico State Police officer told Heiar he wanted to interview the three players seen on video in the Camaro, but according to the documents, Heiar said that he had to make sure the athletes didn’t need a lawyer and told police he would respond to their request soon.
When a State Police officer noticed players boarding a bus at the team hotel and his calls to Heiar kept going to voicemail, he asked another officer to state police to help him contact the bus and “get them to stop” along a nearby highway. The bus, which had left, was at a rest area.
Inside, police say, they located Peake’s tablet, which was in a backpack held by Lorenzo Jenkins, who serves as Heiar’s special assistant. According to the investigation report, Peake’s phone was later located in Las Cruces. Braun Cartwright, NMSU’s assistant athletic director, had called the officer and told him an unnamed administrator had the phone.
Police said they located Peake’s gun that was used in the shooting when assistant coach Dominique Taylor told them Heiar told him the three players knew where he could find the gun. Police recovered the weapon, which was wrapped in a towel, from Taylor that afternoon at the team hotel, according to police reports.
It is unclear when and how, specifically, the weapon, tablet and phone were transported in the hours following the fatal shooting.
None of the players or coaching staff have been charged in connection with the shooting. It’s unclear who owned or drove the yellow Camaro that police said they saw on video following the shooting. New Mexico State coaches told police all players on the team took the bus to Albuquerque from their campus.
Peake was suspended indefinitely by the team this week, pending the outcome of investigations by both the school and state police. Avery, Muhammad and Roy were all suspended for Wednesday’s game at Santa Clara.
A spokesperson for the school, which announced a third-party investigation this week, said none of the New Mexico State coaches had been disciplined.
“No action has been taken against the coaches at this time,” Justin Bannister told ESPN when asked about possible discipline for the coaching staff.
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