John Beam, beloved former football coach featured in Netflix’s ‘Last Chance U’, dies after shooting on California campus

Coach John Beam, the beloved California Bay Area football coach who was featured in the Netflix series “Last Chance U,” has died after being shot this week on the campus of Laney College in Oakland, the city’s police chief Floyd Mitchell said at a news conference Friday.

Police identified the suspect in Thursday’s shooting as 27-year-old Cedric Irving, said Lt. Gloria Beltran, Oakland police homicide unit commander, during the news conference.

The shooting occurred at the college’s fieldhouse, where athletic training facilities are located, according to the Peralta Community College District, which includes Laney. Beam remained the school’s athletic director after retiring as the head football coach last year.

The suspect was acquainted with Beam but did not have a close relationship with him, according to Oakland Assistant Chief of Police James Beere.

“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 said.

The suspect played football at Skyline High School in Oakland, but not while Beam was employed there, authorities said. Although Irving was not a student at Laney College, he was often seen loitering on campus, Beere added.

Beam was on campus for a specific purpose, though officials did not specify what that was. While authorities described the encounter as a “targeted incident,” Beere confirmed it was not connected to a robbery.

Irving was taken into custody without incident, and investigators recovered a firearm in his possession, Beere said.

“The Peralta community is devastated by his shooting,” said Chancellor Tammeil Gilkerson in a message to employees. “We are stunned and heartbroken that such violence has touched our campus and one of the most respected and beloved members of our Laney, Peralta, and Oakland community.”

Beam was admitted to Highland Hospital in Oakland in critical condition on Thursday after the shooting, Gilkerson said.

Beam starred in the 2020 season of the Netflix documentary series “Last Chance U,” a docuseries focusing on community college athletes striving to turn their lives around.

He was revered in the Bay Area after coaching for more than four decades at both the junior college and high school levels.

Laney College was placed on lockdown after reports of a shooting, as police secured the area and launched an investigation. The campus was reopened Friday with mental health and counseling services available, the college said.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee condemned the killing, saying gun violence has “stolen” another life and warning that the city cannot allow firearms to continue flooding its streets and destroying the very people “who are trying to save our community.”

“Coach’s Beam’s legacy isn’t measured in championships or statistics,” Lee said in a statement Friday. “It’s measured in the thousands of young people he believed in, mentored, and refused to abandon, including my nephew, while at Skyline High school. He gave Oakland’s youth their best chance, and he never stopped fighting for them.”

Gilkerson described Beam as “a renowned coach, teacher, mentor, and leader whose impact extends far beyond athletics.”

“Our thoughts are with him and his family,” Gilkerson said.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee called Beam “a giant” in the city and “a lifeline for thousands of young people” in a statement on X.

“For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family,” she added.

The incident is Oakland’s second school shooting in two days.

On Wednesday, one juvenile was shot and two were arrested at Skyline High School, police said. The juvenile who was shot was taken to the hospital and was in stable condition.

“It is devastating,” Lee added. “Schools should be the safest spaces in our city. We need guns off our streets now.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.