Man charged with murder in shooting of Oakland football coach and ‘Last Chance U’ star John Beam
All right. Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Ursula Jones Dixon, Alameda County District Attorney. Um, you’re here today just because I wanted the opportunity to engage you about, um, The case of coach John Beam. I want to start with my personal condolences as well as the office’s condolences to John Beam’s family, um, he really is the best of Oakland, was the best of Oakland, is the best of Oakland. His spirit is still here. I, uh, my husband who. I played sports in the Bay Area for um high school and college. We were having *** conversation this weekend about the fact that it was weird that we had not come into contact with Coach Beam. And my son very quickly checked me and said, but I have. Um, my son was at *** football camp several years ago and Coach Beam took the time to talk to him and encourage him and engage him and tell him how good he was. He didn’t know who he was. He had never seen him before and he didn’t know later until later when he was watching, is it Last Chance U. that Coach Beam was such *** legend in Oakland, and so that’s who he was. He always had the time, he always had the energy, he always had the heart for the work. He’s *** part of Oakland’s legacy. He’s touched so many people and I just wanted to take this moment to say that we continue to pray for his family and we will stand with them in any way that we can to support them. As it relates to the charges. And the murder of Coach Bean, uh, the defendant Cedric Irving was charged with penal code section 187 or murder, um, and also what we call the big use, that’s 12022.53D, that is 25 to life for the murder and 25 to life for the use of the gun during the course of that crime. So this is *** 50 to life crime. Last week was *** rough week for Oakland and the county of Alameda, as you know, there were 2 shootings on school campuses 2 days in *** row. And I’m just absolutely sick to my stomach about the amount of gun violence in our community, specifically in Oakland. Um, I want to be clear that we’re here really to talk about Coach Beam but also that I feel obligated to do something because the DA’s office really is *** reactive agency. We we react when something happens by charging *** case and then moving that case forward, but there are moments in time where you can be *** little proactive as well. And so after some conversations this weekend with my command staff, we’ve decided to reinstitute um Mandatory minimums as it relates to gun cases in this county. What that means is if you are pleading to *** possession of *** gun as *** misdemeanor, you’ll have to do *** certain amount of time um in custody and as *** felony, *** certain amount of time in custody. I think it’s important to talk about accountability as it relates to gun violence. I think that there are way too many guns on the street. Um, in the hands that they shouldn’t be in, and *** lot of those hands unfortunately are, are um young people. And so until we start making ourselves accountable to our neighbors, to our brothers and sisters, we can’t expect anything different. If we keep doing the same thing, we get the same result. And so this is my opportunity to try something that we’ve tried before. To see if we can put *** dent in some of this violent crime that is related to gun violence in our community. I also just want to talk *** little bit about the fact that I’m not going to answer *** bunch of questions about details about the shooting because this is now *** charged case and an open case, but it is important for us to start talking about, I think, um, security on school campuses, whether they be community colleges, um. Elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. I think that the safest place in the country should be school and church. And weirdly of recent it’s just been the opposite. So I just think that’s *** conversation we need to start having and talking out loud about about how we can cure some of those problems, but um that’s just been on my mind as of this long weekend that I had after the rough week of last week. Any questions that I can answer for you? Yes. Thank you very much. Uh, it’s being reported by some outlets that He believed that the coach was somehow using witchcraft on him. Again, I’m not gonna talk about any details about the case. It’s *** charged and open case. What I can tell you, um, is that I think, uh, as it relates to, to Coach Beam specifically, um, This one is *** hard one. Because I think that the people who do the work in the community with anybody they come into contact with, that’s Coach Beams, MO, everybody said it didn’t matter who you were, what you look like, you know, if you played sports, if you didn’t, if you were male, female, it didn’t matter. So the contact that he would have with anyone around the school would not be unusual. I’m not going to go into the details about the state of mind of the defendant, just suffice it to say that Coach Beame was shot in the head. And murdered on that day and time. It’s also been reported that when he was picked up at family and Robart that he admitted to it. Can you say anything about that and how that impacts the case going forward or is that separate from how he will enter *** plea? Don’t know what plea he will enter at arraignment, so I don’t want to speak to that other than statements were taken from the defendant by the Oakland Police homicide detectives. Yes. Um, it’s my understanding it was registered to the defendant. No, I cannot, and that’s kind of the point. I mean, I cannot speak to his mental health. I don’t have any information about his mental health, nor do I want to be having *** conversation that his attorney should be having, but I have no information. We have no indication. I can say that he does not have *** criminal record that we can find. Um, and, uh, oftentimes people who have, uh, significant mental health issues will come into contact with the criminal justice system, but we see none. Yes, sir. I don’t know what the city of Oakland is going to do. I can’t speak for the city of Oakland, yes, ma’am. I guess just going off and not speaking about the suspect, but are you at all concerned about the charges that you now charged him with given there might be some mental health issue? So back to square one, I never said there was *** mental health issue, and I’m not concerned about the charges because it describes exactly what happened on that date and time. There was *** murder and *** gun was used to murder. Therefore, those are the charges that we would charge anyone with for murder. I don’t, I think at last was in place under Nancy O’Malley, if I’m not mistaken, um, and I don’t, I can’t tell you exactly when it went away. I was on the bench at that point and I don’t have *** memory of it. My goal is to try to make people aware that there is absolutely some accountability for carrying *** gun in Oakland. We find that even *** lot of the cases that we charge, sometimes murder cases are difficult to prove because they become self-defense cases because everybody has *** gun. We don’t know who shot first, who was responsible for that initial interaction. And, and that’s unacceptable. You know, we, we are getting to *** point where almost every time we turn on the news, there’s some story about gun violence in this city. This is my city. I live in Oakland. So I’m speaking to you as the DA but also as *** resident of the city of Oakland. My hope is that we can start talking about accountability as it relates to guns in our community, and for me that’s important. Excuse excuse me one second because that gentleman you had several questions. Yes sir. Not from me, no. Yes, sir. Could you minimum is for the public in case they don’t know what the posses. Generically, it would be for misdemeanor possession 90 days, uh, felony possession 180 days, um, and then if we’re talking felony, um, If we’re talking felon in possession, well, let me back up. I think that ghost guns should have *** higher amount of time on those, so we’re looking at misdemeanors as well as felonies for the ghost guns. I think 180 days as it relates to misdemeanors for the ghost guns, and then um. If I recall correctly, I’m sorry, I think the felon in possession was actually 16 months, not 180 days. So we’re at 90 days for misdemeanors, felon in possession 16 months. If they are ghost guns, we’re going to find 180 days for misdemeanor and low term felony as well for the ghost guns, so *** little more time for the ghost guns. So this would be my offer. So as *** DA, I’m making an offer to the defendant and his attorney. So I mean if the judge agrees to that, judges can always kick back in *** plea agreement. I can’t imagine it’s within the range of time. It’s nothing outside of the range, but this would be our offer to the defendant. Yes, ma’am. Do you know how long he had been in possession of that gun and if it had been used in any other I do not know how long you’ve been in possession of the gun, and I don’t know that any ballistics have been done to see if, uh, yeah we wouldn’t have that back this soon anyway, but as I said, based upon what I see, he has no criminal history. Yes, sir. But would you, as *** question of fact, would you be able to say if he was *** student or *** student athlete? So it’s my understanding he was not *** student athlete at Laney College. Um, I, I’m getting information that he was on Laney’s campus from time to time, but that he was not *** registered student. So that’s the information, that’s the information I have. I’m sorry. Yes sir, that schools should be safer? So I didn’t say they should be safer. I think we should be having conversations about what that looks like and you know I think um there was some indication in *** report that I was reading over the weekend because I spent most of the weekend reading about this case that there have been Some concerns potentially from Coach Beam and other folks at Pearlta College about the safety on the campus. I don’t know what those concerns are, but it’s my time to dig into that *** little bit and figure that out. But I do think that there, I mean, when we are having two shootings in one week back to back 2 days in *** row on campuses in Oakland, we need to start having *** conversation about what safety looks like in schools. That’s *** conversation that should be open to the community. Um, as well as the students, the, I mean, let me just say, I think the thing that upset me the most about this other than Coach Beame’s death is the fact that Skyline students were on *** field trip at Laney College on the day that Coach Beame was killed. So they had lockdowns two days in *** row. That’s unacceptable. That we have children in our community who now this is the norm 2 days in *** row that they’re locked down for gun violence on *** campus. I’m not good with that. So whatever it looks like we need to start having those conversations. We should be doing that now so we can figure out how we keep our kids safe in schools and our young people safe in schools. Yes. No, I don’t know that. Are you concerned that all of the case could potentially be moved from the county given the connections that the coach had with so many people would be difficult to have *** trial? I doubt it. I mean, he’s had connections with people literally across the country, um, as we saw on Football Sunday yesterday, uh, his players speaking to him, honoring him, so I can’t imagine where we would move this case to where he wouldn’t have connections. Yes. The charging documents. They are available. They, they’ve been filed. Um, this is not on for Raymond until tomorrow, but they have been filed, so anything else? Yes, in touch with the suspects or the victims? So the DA’s office has been assigned. We had uh victim witness advocates assigned to reach out to the family. I will sit down with them myself as well, but I just want them to have an opportunity to exhale. Um, I know that um it’s been *** rough week for them. We say it’s *** rough week for us, but I don’t want to step on those toes, so we have already assigned folks to do the initial outreach to them, and then I would like to have *** conversation with them when things calm down *** bit. Anything else from anyone else. You can do that at the right down at the clerk’s office. It’s all public. Anything else? All right, thank you all. I appreciate you.
Man charged with murder in shooting of Oakland football coach and ‘Last Chance U’ star John Beam
Updated: 2:06 PM PST Nov 17, 2025
A 27-year-old man was charged Monday with murder in the shooting death of celebrated former football coach John Beam, who died Friday after being shot on the junior college campus in Oakland, where he worked.Cedric Irving also faces enhancement charges alleging he personally fired a gun that caused great bodily injury and that the victim was particularly vulnerable, possibly due to age, according to the charging complaint.The mandatory minimum for first-degree murder is 25 years to life. Conviction on a charge that he personally discharged the firearm resulting in death also carries a sentence of 25 years to life.Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson is set to speak Monday afternoon on the charges. Irving, who is being held without bail, is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday. The Alameda County Public Defender’s Office said it has not been appointed to represent Irving and declined comment.Beam was a giant in the local community, a father figure who forged deep relationships with his players while fielding a team that regularly competed for championships. The Netflix docuseries “Last Chance U” focused on Beam and the Laney Eagles in its 2020 season. He’d most recently been serving as the school’s athletic director after retiring from coaching last year.Officers arrived at Laney College before noon on Thursday to find Beam, 66, wounded at the athletics field house. He was treated at a hospital, but died the following day from his injuries.Irving was arrested at a commuter rail station just after 3 a.m. Friday. He was carrying the firearm used to shoot Beam, and he admitted to carrying out the shooting, according to the probable cause document.Oakland Assistant Chief James Beere said the suspect went on campus for a “specific reason” but did not elaborate. “This was a very targeted incident,” he said at a Friday news conference.Beere did not say how the two men knew each other, but said Irving was known to hang around the Laney campus. Irving’s brother told the San Francisco Chronicle that Irving had lost his job as a security guard after an altercation and was facing eviction at home.Beam joined Laney College in 2004 as a running backs coach and became head coach in 2012, winning two league titles. According to his biography on the college’s website, at least 20 of his players went on to the NFL.His shooting came a day after a student was shot at Oakland’s Skyline High School. The student is in stable condition. Beam had previously worked at Skyline High School, and the suspect in that shooting had played football there after Beam had already left for another job.
OAKLAND, Calif. —
A 27-year-old man was charged Monday with murder in the shooting death of celebrated former football coach John Beam, who died Friday after being shot on the junior college campus in Oakland, where he worked.
Cedric Irving also faces enhancement charges alleging he personally fired a gun that caused great bodily injury and that the victim was particularly vulnerable, possibly due to age, according to the charging complaint.
The mandatory minimum for first-degree murder is 25 years to life. Conviction on a charge that he personally discharged the firearm resulting in death also carries a sentence of 25 years to life.
Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson is set to speak Monday afternoon on the charges. Irving, who is being held without bail, is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday. The Alameda County Public Defender’s Office said it has not been appointed to represent Irving and declined comment.
Beam was a giant in the local community, a father figure who forged deep relationships with his players while fielding a team that regularly competed for championships. The Netflix docuseries “Last Chance U” focused on Beam and the Laney Eagles in its 2020 season. He’d most recently been serving as the school’s athletic director after retiring from coaching last year.
Officers arrived at Laney College before noon on Thursday to find Beam, 66, wounded at the athletics field house. He was treated at a hospital, but died the following day from his injuries.
Irving was arrested at a commuter rail station just after 3 a.m. Friday. He was carrying the firearm used to shoot Beam, and he admitted to carrying out the shooting, according to the probable cause document.
Oakland Assistant Chief James Beere said the suspect went on campus for a “specific reason” but did not elaborate. “This was a very targeted incident,” he said at a Friday news conference.
Beere did not say how the two men knew each other, but said Irving was known to hang around the Laney campus. Irving’s brother told the San Francisco Chronicle that Irving had lost his job as a security guard after an altercation and was facing eviction at home.
Beam joined Laney College in 2004 as a running backs coach and became head coach in 2012, winning two league titles. According to his biography on the college’s website, at least 20 of his players went on to the NFL.
His shooting came a day after a student was shot at Oakland’s Skyline High School. The student is in stable condition. Beam had previously worked at Skyline High School, and the suspect in that shooting had played football there after Beam had already left for another job.