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A law firm’s report on a fatal shooting by a New Mexico State University basketball player found the institution met its legal obligations, but the university should consider revising a policy on weapons and set clearer curfew guidelines for athletic teams, the Associated Press reported.
No criminal charges have been filed against Mike Peake, the basketball player who shot and killed a University of New Mexico student after being “lured” to the UNM campus at 3 a.m. on Nov. 19, according to state police. Peake sustained a gunshot wound during the encounter.
The Albuquerque Journal reported that other University of New Mexico students involved in the altercation told police Peake had been targeted in a revenge plot connected to an October brawl at the New Mexico State football stadium.
Unrelated allegations of team hazing led New Mexico State to suspend the rest of the team’s season on Feb. 10, and the university soon after fired head coach Greg Heiar.
A summary of the report by the Rodey Law Firm released Thursday stated that the university’s existing policy prohibiting weapons did not go far enough, calling for a change to make clear that weapons should be prohibited when “traveling for team events or while engaging in any activity where the student-athlete is representing NMSU.”
The report also stated a recommendation that the university create a policy for how coaches should respond to police when athletes are suspected of criminal activity. The university announced in December plans to hire an investigator to review the university’s response in the days after the shooting.
Some students who spoke to TV station KVIA expressed dismay at how the violence escalated.
“I think there should be disciplinary action, but I feel as if though everything that could have happened wrong already did,” student Jewel Rivera said.
