Cedric Irving Jr., the man accused of fatally shooting legendary Oakland football coach John Beam last week, is facing murder charges.

At a press conference inside the René C. Davidson Courthouse Monday afternoon, Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson announced the charges against Irving, which include murder and enhancements for the use of a gun, which would add time to any sentence he might receive if found guilty.

If convicted, Irving could face a sentence of 50 years to life in prison, Jones Dickson said.

Court documents show that officers with the Oakland Police Department used surveillance footage from the Nov. 13 incident to identify Irving, 27, as a suspect. Just after 4 a.m. on Nov. 14, police officers arrested Irving at the San Leandro BART station and took him to OPD’s Criminal Investigation Division to be interviewed. While there, police recovered a firearm inside one of Irving’s bags. OPD Officer Kevin Godchaux wrote in a probable cause statement that Irving admitted the gun in the bag was his and that he had used it to shoot Beam.

According to the East Bay Times, Irving told police that he suspected Beam had performed “witchcraft” on him. Police subsequently booked him into Santa Rita Jail without conducting a psychiatric evaluation.

The DA declined to comment on Irving’s mental health, saying that Irving’s attorney would comment on it. Irving does not yet have an attorney.

OPD Acting Chief James Beere told reporters last week that Irving knew who Beam was, but the two did not have a relationship. Irving was reportedly known to have “loitered” around the campus, according to police.

Irving’s first court appearance is scheduled for tomorrow morning at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.

Reinstating mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes

Jones Dickson used Monday’s press conference to also announce that she will be reinstating a policy of seeking mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes, which she said were last in place during former DA Nancy O’Malley’s tenure.

That means that a person who pleads guilty or is found guilty of illegally possessing a firearm as a misdemeanor will need to serve at least 90 days; a person convicted of a felony and found to illegally be in possession of a gun will need to serve at least 16 months; and a person found to own a so-called “ghost gun” — an illegal, unregistered weapon without a serial number — will need to serve at least 180 days for a misdemeanor charge or 16 months for a felony charge, according to the DA.

“My goal is to try to make people aware that there is absolutely some accountability for carrying a gun in Oakland,” Jones Dickson said.

Jones Dickson confirmed that Irving does not have a criminal record and was not enrolled at Laney College.

The DA’s office has assigned victim-witness advocates to speak with Irving’s family.

On the heels of two back-to-back shootings on Oakland school campuses last week, the DA said she is pushing for more conversations about improving school safety, but declined to expand on what those security measures should look like. She said she was especially concerned about the Skyline High School students who were on a field trip at Laney College at the time of the shooting — just one day after a student was shot inside a Skyline High School bathroom.

“It’s unacceptable that we have children in our community who, now, this is their norm,” said Jones Dickson. 

Jones Dickson told reporters that her family had a connection to Beam. The legendary coach had spoken to her son at a football camp several years ago, but her son hadn’t known who Beam was at the time.

“Coach Beam took the time to talk to him, encourage him, and tell him how good he was,” she said. “He didn’t know until later, when he was watching ‘Last Chance U,’ that Coach Beam was such a legend in Oakland.”

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