Legendary college football coach John Beam, who starred in the Netflix series “Last Chance U,” has died after being shot on a campus in Oakland, California.
The Laney College athletic director and Skyline High School coach, 66, died on Friday following the shocking attack, which police described as a “very targeted incident.”
Cedric Irving has been arrested over Beam’s death. The 27-year-old knew the coach but “did not have a relationship” with him, Oakland Police assistant chief James Beere said at a press conference.
Irving played high school football at Skyline High, but not under Beam. They weren’t close, but the coach was “open to helping everybody in our community,” Beere said.
Though he also did not attend Laney College, the suspect had gone there "for a specific reason" and had been known to “loiter on or around the campus,” according to Beere.
He added that Irving was not known to the department before the shooting. Charges are still pending.
The incident took place on Thursday inside the Oakland campus field house. Beam, who was hospitalized in critical condition, died at about 10 a.m. Friday, police confirmed.
Beam’s family said in a statement that he was a “loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, coach, mentor and friend,” but asked for privacy. “Our hearts are full from the outpouring of love,” the statement added.
A gun recovered from the suspect is the same caliber as the casings and rounds recovered at the crime scene, police added. Authorities later credited technology, specifically cameras at the college campus, private residences and on public transit, with helping arrest Irving.
Beam served as athletic director at Laney College and joined the school in 2004 as a running backs coach. He became head coach in 2012, winning two league titles. According to his biography on the college’s website, 20 of his players have gone on to the NFL.
Two of Beam’s former players — brothers Nahshon and Rejzohn Wright, now in the NFL with the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints — posted on social media after the shooting.
“You mean the world to me,” Rejzohn Wright said in a post with a photo of Beam. His brother shared a photo of the coach alongside a broken heart emoji.
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee described Beam as a “giant” and a mentor, educator and lifeline for young people. “For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family,” Lee said Friday.
The Netflix docuseries focused on athletes at junior colleges striving to turn their lives around, and Beam's Laney College Eagles starred in the 2020 season.
Piedmont Police Chief Frederick Shavies called the coach an "absolutely incredible human being." "Our hearts are aching," Shavies said at Friday's news conference.
A motive for the killing is yet to be established, though the suspect’s brother said he had grown distant from his family in recent years following an argument with his father.
“It’s painful,” Samuael Irving told The San Francisco Chronicle, after learning that his brother had been arrested in the investigation into Beam’s death.
He said his brother had been a good student both academically and athletically and “loved football.”
Beam’s shooting at Laney College came one day after a student was wounded in a separate incident at Skyline High School. The student is in stable condition.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
