OAKLAND, Calif. – Oakland police on Friday arrested a 27-year-old former football player following the death of legendary Laney College coach, John Beam, who died from his gunshot wounds in what authorities described cryptically as a “targeted” shooting.
“I’d like to begin by taking a moment to honor the life of a man deeply beloved in this community,” outgoing Police Chief Floyd Mitchell said. “Coach John Beam, unfortunately passed away this morning from a gunshot wound that he sustained yesterday. I know that Coach Beam meant a lot to the Oakland community and beyond.”
Police read a statement from Beam’s family, saying they were “devastated” at his death, but grateful for police and community support.
“John Beam, who was a giant in Oakland and mentored thousands and thousands of young people over more than 45 years,” Mayor Barbara Lee said at an afternoon press conference. “Coach Beam’s legacy isn’t measured in championships or statistics, even though they are great. It’s measured in the thousands of young people he believed in, mentored and refused to abandon, including my nephew, while at Skyline High School, he gave Oakland’s youth their best chance, and he never stopped fighting for them.”
ID of suspect
Full presser: Famed Oakland coach John Beam dies
Famed college football coach and athletic director John Beam died this morning from injuries sustained in a shooting at Laney College.
The news of Beam’s death and subsequent arrest of Cedric Irving, Jr., 27, were announced Friday, a day after Beam, 66, was shot before noon in the 900 block of Fallon Street, near the Laney Fieldhouse. That building is adjacent to the college’s football field and houses the school’s athletic facilities and resources, where Beam worked.
Irving was spotted before dawn Friday by Alameda County sheriff’s deputy Miguel Torres at the San Leandro BART station, conspicuously carrying two duffle bags, a source and police said.
No motive was given.
Efforts to reach Irving on Friday were not immediately successful. He has not yet been charged.
John Beam: Oakland football coach dies in ‘targeted’ shooting
Oakland police on Friday arrested a suspect following the death of legendary Laney College football coach, John Beam, who died from his gunshot wounds in what authorities described cryptically as a “targeted” shooting.
‘Targeted’ shooting
At a Friday news conference, Asst. Police Chief James Beere said that Irving knew Beam, “but they did not have a relationship.”
He also said that Irving was not a Laney College student but had been known to “loiter around the campus.” Irving had played football at Skyline High in 2017, according to Max Preps, but not during the time that Beams coached there.
Beere did state that Irving was “on campus for a specific reason,” and that Beam was “targeted,” though he wouldn’t say more, as charges are pending.
Beere stressed that this shooting was not motivated by a robbery.
“I will say that Coach Beam was open to helping everybody in our community,” Beere said. “And this is not uncommon for him to have a relationship with someone that he would think needs help. In this case, I can just tell you that the individual that was arrested went specifically to the campus for a specific reason.”
Beere said police tracked the suspect by reviewing “hundreds of hours of surveillance footage,” including images from Ring cameras, bus video, business security systems and Laney College’s cameras. Footage from a bus helped a deputy spot Irving.
“We looked at every camera we could legally look at,” Beere said. “Honestly, without technology, our community would have been put further at risk.”
Police recovered a weapon that they said matched the caliber of live rounds found at the scene.
Brother speaks
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Cedric Irving, Jr., 27, was arrested in connection with the death of John Beam.
The San Francisco Chronicle reached Irving’s brother, Samuael Irving, who said Cedric played football at Skyline, after Beam’s time there, and then at Laney. “I hope it wasn’t him,” he said. “The Cedric I knew wasn’t capable of murder.”
He told the Chronicle that his brother had excelled academically and athletically in high school where he ran track and played football, but grew distant from the family in recent years following an argument with their father.
Irving had worked as a security guard but lost his job after an altercation, his brother told the Chronicle. More recently, he was evicted from his apartment.
Second-chance coach
Beam – who gained fame for the Laney College Eagles football team in 2020 on the Netflix show, “Last Chance U” – was rushed to Highland Hospital where family, friends and football players gathered late Thursday night, though no one wanted to speak.
All of his supporters described Beam as an extraordinary coach who gave people second chances, fed them when they were hungry and made sure they weren’t falling behind in their schoolwork.
Piedmont’s new police chief, Frederick Shavies, who used to be OPD’s deputy police chief, said that Beam was like a father to him. He’s known him since he was in the 8th grade at Bradford Junior High.
“I lost my father when I was in high school,” Shavies said. “And he has always been there for me.”
Beam had retired from Laney as head football coach in 2024, and was hired back as the community college’s athletic director.
Former Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong worked closely with Beam. In an interview on Thursday, Armstrong said the two helped transition a handful of Beam’s students at Laney into the police force.
“We had a long-standing relationship with him at the Oakland Police Department to become Oakland police officers,” Armstrong said.
Sean Bullard got emotional talking about his friend on Thursday night. He first met Beam when he was a a 16-year-old sophomore at Skyline High School and Beam was the football coach. He’s known him for decades and considers Beam his family.
“He’s an uncle-dad-best-friend all wrapped in one,” Bullard said.
He said that Beam was the one who “unlocked” the world of sports for him, sometimes picking him up at 7 a.m. to lift weights before school and made sure his classes were in order so he could spend time on the field.
“Our only purpose as parents and coaches is to make the next generation better,” he said as tears filled his eyes. “And he’s done it over and over and over again.”
Skyline High coach in the 1980s
Beam’s career has spanned decades of success and community impact.
He began his coaching career in San Diego before coming to the Bay Area.
He started coaching at Skyline High School in the ’80s, where he won 15 league championships and four undefeated seasons.
In an unrelated shooting, a student at Skyline was shot the day before Beam was. Two teenagers were later taken into custody.
Beam later brought his talents to Laney College, where he added to his legacy and helped build one of the most respected junior college football programs in the nation.
Between his time at Laney and Skyline, Beam produced more than 20 NFL players, including seven Super Bowl participants. His former players have gone on to win championships at every level of football — from NCAA Division I and III to the Canadian Grey Cup, NFL Europe, and Arena League titles.
Beam’s success and mentorship earned national attention when Netflix featured Laney College in its “Last Chance U” series in 2020.
In a previous interview with KTVU upon his coaching retirement from Laney last year, Beam said his coaching philosophy centered on honesty, consistency, and helping athletes succeed in life, not just in sports.
“It was always about teaching young men and young women, student-athletes, how to fit into society and do certain things like be true to your word,” Beam said at the time.
