OAKLAND, Calif. \u2014 Oakland’s celebrated former football coach John Beam, who was featured in the Netflix series \u201cLast Chance U\u201d that showcased his success with players others wouldn\u2019t gamble on, died Friday, a day after being shot on the college campus where he worked.<\/p>\n
Police arrested the 27-year-old suspect Friday. Authorities said he knew the 66-year-old coach, and it was a targeted attack.<\/p>\n
The shooting at Laney College rattled Oakland, with scores holding a vigil outside the hospital before he died. He was remembered as someone who would help anyone.<\/p>\n
Mayor Barbara Lee described Beam as a \u201cgiant\u201d in the city who mentored thousands of young people, including her own nephew, and \u201cgave Oakland\u2019s youth their best chance\u201d at success.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
Suspect’s brother is stunned<\/p>\n
Authorities credited technology, specifically cameras at the college campus, private residences and on public transit, in tracking the suspect identified as Cedric Irving Jr.<\/p>\n
Irving was arrested without incident at a commuter rail station in Oakland just after 3 a.m. on Friday and police recovered the gun. He was being held at a local jail on charges of murder and carrying a concealed weapon, according to Alameda County\u2019s inmate locator. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday morning. It wasn\u2019t immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.<\/p>\n
Irving\u2019s brother, Samuael Irving, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was stunned to learn of the arrest and that his brother excelled academically and athletically in high school, where he ran track and played football. The brother said Cedric grew distant from the family in recent years after an argument with their father. Irving recently lost his job as a security guard after an altercation, his brother said, and then was evicted from his apartment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope it isn\u2019t him,\u201d Samuael Irving said quietly. \u201cThe Cedric I knew wasn\u2019t capable of murder \u2014 but the way things had been going, I honestly don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police said the shooting happened Thursday before noon, and officers arrived to find Beam shot.<\/p>\n
Oakland Assistant Chief James Beere said the suspect went on campus for a \u201cspecific reason\u201d but did not elaborate on what that was. \u201cThis was a very targeted incident,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Beere did not say how Beam and the suspect knew each other but said the suspect was known to loiter around the Laney campus. The suspect had played football at a high school where Beam had worked but not at the time the coach was employed there.<\/p>\n