Step.- An Albuquerque law firm is recommending that New Mexico State University (NMSU) strengthen its policies around guns, team curfews and coaches’ communication with law enforcement, according to a report by The Albuquerque Journal.
The recommendations were included in an executive summary of an investigation in the wake of a fatal shooting of a University of New Mexico (UNM) student by an NMSU basketball player on the UNM campus in November. NMSU published the summary on Thursday.
The Rodey Law Firm was retained to complete the review after Mike Peake, a forward for the basketball team, broke curfew and was involved in a campus shooting that killed a UNM student in the early hours of the day. in the morning of the day of the Lobo-Aggie rivalry. game Police have said Peake acted in self-defense after three UNM students attacked him. Peake was lured to campus by a student who was friends with UNM students, police say.
Peake, who was hit in the leg, killed UNM student Brandon Travis in a shootout around 3 a.m. outside a dormitory complex.
The law firm’s recommendations for NMSU include:
Create more detailed policies outlining the consequences of breaking team curfews during out-of-town travel.
Establish a more detailed weapons policy.
Outline how coaches should communicate with law enforcement investigating possible crimes committed by student athletes.
Implement measures to “strengthen a culture that encourages student athletes to adhere to the integrity and values of NMSU at all times.”
Rodey’s law firm reviewed various NMSU policies and interviewed relevant witnesses, conducted investigations, and reviewed publicly available police and media reports, among other things. Several players and coaches the firm requested to speak with declined to be interviewed.
“We also do not identify any such NCAA or WAC rule violations,” the firm wrote in the summary. “In addition, from an institutional perspective, we do not identify any breach by NMSU of its legal obligations in the management of its student athletes.”
NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu said in a letter to the NMSU community Thursday that the law firm’s investigation into the shooting did not identify any failure by the university to comply with its legal obligations. He said the university will soon announce a task force to work with NMSU administration and the Board of Regents to address the company’s recommendations.
“We are sharing this information with our campus community to show our commitment to transparency and to begin working together to implement the report’s recommendations,” Arvizu said in the letter. “We said from the beginning, if this review highlights opportunities for improvement, we’ll look for them.”
The attack on Peake by UNM students on November 2. On Oct. 19, 2022, he allegedly went in retaliation for a fight he was involved in during the Lobo-Aggie soccer game in Las Cruces in October, police said.
Surveillance video of the shooting showed Peake’s teammates, Issa Muhammad, Anthony Roy and Marchelus Avery, arriving on the scene after the shooting and allegedly leaving soon with their teammate’s firearm and tablet before for the police to arrive.
The police investigation revealed that the NMSU players were out late the night of the shooting, and the team left on a bus back to Las Cruces the next morning while police were still trying to obtain the firearm Peake used and talk to his friends. teammates allegedly in possession of evidence.
NMSU has faced criticism about players being out after curfew, how and why a student athlete would bring a gun on a road trip, and the coaches’ interaction with police and not immediately pulling out the gun.
Charges have been filed against the UNM students in connection with the shooting, and the district attorney’s office also announced that they are reviewing the actions of the NMSU players and employees.
After the shooting, Peake was fired from the team for violations of team rules and Muhammad, Roy, and Avery were each suspended for one game.
The Aggies continued to play until mid-February, when NMSU canceled the remainder of the basketball season and fired first-year coach Greg Heiar for provoking amid a hazing scandal. The hazing scandal was not related to the shooting, school officials said.
