OAKLAND, Calif. (Diya TV) \u2014 Authorities have charged a 27-year-old man with murder in the shooting death of John Beam, the beloved former Laney College football coach who rose to national fame on the Netflix series Last Chance U. Beam died Friday, one day after he was shot in the head on the Oakland campus where he worked and mentored students for decades.<\/p>\n
Alameda County prosecutors announced Monday that Cedric Irving faces one count of murder. District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson said Irving could receive 50 years to life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors also filed enhancement charges, saying Irving fired the gun that caused great bodily injury and that Beam was particularly vulnerable, possibly due to age.<\/p>\n
Jones Dickson said Irving had no prior criminal record. Authorities are holding him without bail. He is set to appear in court on Tuesday for arraignment. The Alameda County Public Defender\u2019s Office said it has not been appointed to represent him and declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Beam, 66, spent decades shaping young athletes and helping them find stability off the field. He served as head coach at Laney College from 2012 until his retirement last year, leading the Eagles to two league titles. At least 20 of his former players reached the NFL, according to the school\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
He became widely known in 2020 when Last Chance U featured Laney College. The series showed his leadership style and his deep commitment to helping players grow. Many in Oakland saw him as a father figure who guided young people through tough moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really is the best of Oakland \u2014 was the best of Oakland,\u201d Jones Dickson said. \u201cHis spirit is still here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beam\u2019s death came during a violent week for Oakland, a city of about 400,000 across the bay from San Francisco. One day before the shooting at Laney College, a student at Skyline High School was shot and injured. Two juveniles are now in custody in that case.<\/p>\n
Jones Dickson said Skyline students were on a field trip at Laney when Beam was shot. Many experienced two lockdowns in two days. She urged the community to confront the rise in gun violence and the easy access to firearms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s unacceptable that we have children in our community who now know this is the norm,\u201d she said. \u201cTwo days in a row that they\u2019re locked down for gun violence on a campus. I\u2019m not good with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oakland police responded to Laney College just before noon Thursday. Officers found Beam inside the athletics field house. Medical teams took him to a hospital, but he died Friday from his injuries.<\/p>\n
Police arrested Irving early Friday morning at a commuter rail station. According to a probable cause document, he carried the firearm used in the shooting and admitted to the attack. Assistant Chief James Beere said the suspect came to the campus for a \u201cspecific reason,\u201d but he did not give details. \u201cThis was a very targeted incident,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Authorities have not explained the connection between the two men. Irving\u2019s brother told the San Francisco Chronicle that Irving recently lost his job as a security guard after an altercation. He also said Irving was facing eviction. Beam joined Laney College in 2004 as a running backs coach and stepped into the head coaching role in 2012. Before his time at Laney, he led Skyline High School\u2019s football program. Irving later played at Skyline, but after Beam had left for another position.<\/p>\n
Beam\u2019s impact stretched far beyond football. Former players often credited him with helping them find purpose, stability, and confidence. His work with young athletes made him one of Oakland\u2019s most respected leaders. Community members, students, and former players are now mourning a man who stood as a symbol of hope. His death leaves a deep void at Laney College and across Oakland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND, Calif. (Diya TV) \u2014 Authorities have charged a 27-year-old man with murder in the shooting death of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[93,33884,33091,752,143,145,144,16583],"class_list":{"0":"post-59342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-featured","9":"tag-james-beere","10":"tag-john-beam","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-oakland","13":"tag-oakland-headlines","14":"tag-oakland-news","15":"tag-ursula-jones-dickson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}