Police: Revenge prompted deadly New Mexico campus shooting

Tue, Nov 22, 2022
NCAAF News (AP)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Court records show a plot to enact revenge for a fight during a football game last month resulted in a shootout between students from rival universities in New Mexico that left one person dead and a basketball player injured.

A pair of University of New Mexico students face charges of aggravated battery and conspiracy in connection with the plan to lure the New Mexico State University player to campus while he was in town for a game. A criminal complaint filed by state police details what led up to the early Saturday shooting on the Albuquerque campus.

UNM student Brandon Travis, 19, was shot to death near a dorm only hours before the Aggies were scheduled to play the Lobos. The NMSU player, 21-year-old Mike Peake, was shot in the leg during the altercation.

According to court documents, Travis and three fellow students plotted to get back at Peake for his role in a brawl that broke out in the stands during a football game between the two schools in Las Cruces in October. A video of that fight that has circulated on social media showed a number of people throwing punches.

The criminal complaint states that Peake left the team's hotel room early Saturday to meet with one of the students, a 17-year-old girl with whom he had been texting. A friend of Travis, the teen girl is facing charges in juvenile court.

Peake told an investigator he was talking with the girl outside a dorm when three people walked up behind them, including Travis, who pointed a gun to his face. Peake said one man then struck him with a bat.

According to the complaint, Peake said he pushed Travis and that Travis shot at him as he ran away. Peake told investigators that he pulled a gun out of his pocket and fired.

Peake has not been charged with a crime.

Jonathan Smith, 19, one of the students with Travis, told investigators that Peake fired at Travis as he was running away and that Travis fired back. Smith is facing charges of aggravated battery, conspiracy and tampering with evidence for throwing away his cell phone and clothing.

The shooting in Albuquerque happened hours before the scheduled tipoff of a basketball game between the rival schools, which was later postponed.

The shooting came six days after a former University of Virginia football player allegedly killed three Cavaliers football players and wounded two other students on the Charlottesville campus before being arrested.

New Mexico State University officials have said no students are allowed to have any weapons on university property or at university sponsored activities, and that doing so is a violation of the student code of conduct. They noted that players' bags will be searched in the future when they board the bus for road trips.

University officials also said other student athletes violated team curfew rules during the trip to Albuquerque, but those student athletes were not part of the incident.