New Mexico State basketball players and coaches skipped town in a university-owned bus while investigators were trying to interview them and find the gun that was used by one of their players in a self-defense defense shooting on the UNM campus hours before tipoff, according to a report obtained by Target 7.As a result, a detective sped down Interstate 25 with lights and siren on and pulled over the bus as it was headed back to Las Cruces with evidence on board.Eventually, state police found the gun with an assistant basketball coach at an Albuquerque hotel, a tablet on the bus and the cell phone belonging to NMSU forward Mike Peake that ended up in the hands of a university administrator in Las Cruces. Two coaches had initially said they did not know where the gun was, according to the report.Target 7 reached out to New Mexico State University officials, and they would not answer any questions. “I don't want to say the coach was obstructing,” said Darren White, who used to oversee the state police when he was public safety cabinet secretary. “It's clear to me he wasn't cooperating.”The New Mexico State men’s basketball team was supposed to play the University of New Mexico Lobos at The Pit in Albuquerque on Nov. 19.At about 3 a.m., Peake somehow skipped curfew to meet a girl he wanted to have sex with in a UNM dorm room, police say. Court records show the 17-year-old girl had plotted with three other male students to lure him there as part of a planned revenge beating.Police have said that Peake was involved in an altercation with the men weeks earlier at the UNM-NMSU football game in Las Cruces.One of the men attacked Peake with a baseball bat and another pulled out a gun and shot at Peake while he was running away. Peake returned fire, striking 19-year-old Brandon Travis four times, killing him, the police report showed. Peake was shot in the leg while the two exchanged gunfire.The girl and one of the men, Jonathan Smith, have been charged in connection with beating Peake, according to court records.After the shooting, Peake is seen on video approaching a yellow Camaro, where he meets three of his teammates — Issa Muhammad, Marcelus Avery and Anthony Roy. Peake is seen putting items into the trunk right before the car drives off. Police arrive after the Camaro drove off.When police went looking to question the three players, they spoke with NMSU Coach Greg Heiar, who told investigators that he didn’t know where the gun was and he needed to check with his athletic director to see if the players needed to get attorneys. He told the detectives he would get back to them, according to the report.The coach also said he didn’t know Peake that well because he had only been on the team for seven months.“The agent made it very clear he wanted to speak to these three basketball players who look like they helped Michael get rid of the weapon and this tablet,” White said. “Your responsibility (as a coach) is to say, 'Hey, you three guys, law enforcement has identified you as being in some yellow Camaro. Now get your butt downstairs and do what you got to do.'”Detectives also talked to assistant coach Dominque Taylor, who did room checks and was in the hotel lobby that night making sure players were not violating the midnight curfew. Taylor said he saw Peake with two other players at about 1:15 a.m. and pointed at the elevator, according to the report.Less than two hours later, Peake was involved in the shooting.“I emphasized to Coach Taylor how important it was to recover the gun and other items that were placed in the trunk,” state police agent David Esquibel wrote in his report. “I asked him to let me know if he finds out any information about the Camaro, the gun or other items and he said he would.”A couple of hours later, the detective tried to reach coaches Heiar and Taylor to get updates. Both calls went to voicemail and the deputy athletic director, Braun Cartwright, called the detective back. Cartwright told the officer he need to retrieve the gun and Peake’s tablet. He then called Taylor, who hung up on him, according to the report.“At this time I began driving south on Interstate 25 with my lights and sirens activated attempting to locate the bus with the NMSU basketball team on it,” Esquibel wrote in his report.“I think they were concerned that that gun and that tablet were on that bus headed southbound on I-25 to Las Cruces,” White said. ”And so he's having to run lights and siren to pull over the team bus. He shouldn't have had to do that. They should have stayed there and fully cooperated.”As the detective was trying to catch up with the bus he received a text message from a New Mexico State University police lieutenant who offered to assist. The detective told the campus officer to contact someone on the bus and have them pull over. The campus officer also texted the state police investigator that coach Taylor had the firearm back at the team’s hotel in Albuquerque.The state police agent caught up with the bus at the Fort Craig rest stop and spoke with another assistant coach, Lorenzo Jenkins. He had Peake’s tablet but said he had no idea where his phone was. The coach would not allow the detective to speak to any of the players and said that “they told Cartwright they wanted an attorney.”When the detective caught up with Taylor at the Doubletree Hotel in Albuquerque, the coach had the gun wrapped in a towel, according to the report.Target 7 has been asking NMSU officials about the gun for two weeks. They have refused to answer any questions about it. They will not say if the actions of their coaches are under investigation.However, they could be in legal trouble. KOAT Legal Expert John Day said the coaching staff or some of the players could face charges.“If I were the state police investigating this case, I'd be kind of ticked off that there was not as much cooperation on this as you would expect from a fellow state of New Mexico government entity,” said Day, a former prosecutor. “Whether they're going to charge tampering with evidence, that's certainly a possibility because when the state police agent indicated to the coaching staff, we need that gun, it was not immediately turned over.” Target 7 reached out to Heiar and Taylor. Heiar did not answer his cell phone. Taylor said “no comment.”