Retired “Last Chance U” football coach John Beam died Friday in Northern California and a suspect was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting at Laney College in Oakland, authorities said.
The suspect was identified as Cedric Irving Jr., a 27-year-old former high school football player who was arrested without incident, police said.
Irving played at Skyline High School in Oakland where Beam once coached, but not when the suspect was a student there.
The suspect and victim knew each other, according to Oakland Assistant Police Chief James Beere, who declined to elaborate on the nature of their relationship or any kind of motive.
“I will say that coach Beam, although they did not have a close relationship, was open to helping everybody in our community and this is not uncommon for him to have a relationship with someone that he would think needs help,” Beere told reporters.
“In this case, I can just tell you that the individual that was arrested went specifically to the campus for a specific reason.”
It wasn’t immediately clear Friday if Irving had been appointed or hired an attorney to speak on his behalf.
Beam was shot Thursday at the Laney College Fieldhouse, police and the Peralta Community College District said.
“Coach Beam passed away this morning from the gunshot wound that he sustained yesterday,” Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell said.
“I know that coach Beam meant a lot to the Oakland community and beyond.”
The coach’s family has been touched by the sympathy that’s been expressed since news broke of Beam’s shooting.
“Our hearts are full from the outpouring of love and support from all who cared about him,” according to a family statement read by Frederick Shavies, the police chief in neighboring Piedmont and a longtime friend of Beam’s.
“We are deeply grateful for your continued prayers, well wishes and thoughts at this time.”
Surveillance images from the school and nearby homes and businesses played a key role in the arrest, police said.
An Alameda County Sheriff’s deputy spotted the suspect at 3:15 a.m. Friday at the Bay Area Rapid Transit’s San Leandro Station, about 8 miles from campus, and took him into custody, according to Gloria Beltran, commander of the OPD homicide unit.
“OPD investigators interviewed the suspect and he provided a statement regarding the shooting,” she said.
Laney College in Oakland, Calif.KNTV
Irving Jr.’s arrest came as a shock to his family.
His brother, Samuael Irving, told NBC Bay Area that he had never heard of any issues between Irving Jr. and Beam. He noted his brother played tight end for Skyline High School’s varsity football team in 2016 and 2017, but that was after Beam left to coach at Laney.
“Hearing about my brother’s arrest shocked me a lot. It made me tear up. I couldn’t believe he would have done such a thing like this. I wish he would have just came to his family for help or advice or just anything because we’re family,” Irving said.
Irving told the station he and his brother used to be close, but became distant after Irving Jr. left high school.
“Everything changed after he graduated. Showed a lot of animosity towards me,” he recalled.
He told NBC Bay Area that he last spoke to his brother about five months ago, and said that Irving Jr. stopped calling him and his parents. He said he knew his brother worked as a security guard at some point, but he wasn’t aware of any issues.
Mayor Barbara Lee called Beam a “giant in Oakland” who “mentored thousands, and I mean thousands, of young people over more than 45 years.”
“Coach Beam’s legacy isn’t measured in championships or statistics, even though they are great,” Lee told reporters. “It’s measured in the thousands of young people he believed in, mentored and refused to abandon.”
Beam was survived by his wife and two daughters, Lee added.
Beam is best known as the coach who was profiled in season five of the Netflix series “Last Chance U,” which follows players on a college football team struggling to make the best of limited or final opportunities.
The season that focused on Beam and Laney College aired in 2020.
Beam has been athletic director at the junior college near downtown Oakland, California, since 2006 and was the football coach from 2012 through last season.
Former Denver Broncos running back and 1,000-yard rusher C.J. Anderson played for Beam at Laney.
Before going to junior college, Beam coached at Skyline High School, where Pro Bowl offensive lineman Marvel Smith played in his prep ball. Smith played nine seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Beam led Laney to the 2018 California Community College Athletic Association title.