Former American football coach John Beam, who was featured in Netflix series Last Chance U, has died after being shot.
The shooting took place at Laney College in Oakland, California, on Thursday. On Friday, police announced that they arrested a suspect, but did not provide any motive for the attack.
Oakland police said that the suspect never played football for Beam but knew the coach. US media reports identified the suspect as Cedric Irving Jr.
Tributes have been pouring in for Beam, 66, who had been serving as the college’s athletics director at the time of his death, including from the mayor of Oakland and his former teammates who now play professionally for the NFL.
Hundreds of people attended a vigil for him outside of the hospital where he was being treated on Thursday night, according to officials.
Beam was featured in the fifth season of Last Chance U. The series profiles him and his team, the Laney Eagles, as they fend off rival teams in the northern California city.
The eight-part documentary series, which aired in 2020, focused on the successes and struggles of the team, as well as the socioeconomics and the gentrification of the city of Oakland.
According to police, the suspect was arrested overnight at a local bus stop, and was found carrying a gun. He was taken into custody without incident.
Oakland Acting Police Chief James Beere said that while the suspect knew of Beam, “they did not have a relationship” though the coach was “open to helping everybody in this community”.
He added that the suspect – who was not a student of Laney College but was known to hang around the college – had gone to campus for a “specific reason”, which he declined to identify.
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee hailed Beam as a “giant in Oakland — a mentor, an educator and a lifeline for thousands of young people”.
“For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family,” she said in a statement.
Two brothers who had played under Beam before going on to play in the NFL also paid tribute.
Rejzohn Wright of the New Orleans Saints posted a photo of Beam with the caption “you mean the world to me”.
Nahshon Wright of the Chicago Bears also shared a photo of Beam, adding an emoji of a broken heart.
This was the second school shooting in Oakland in two days.
A shooting took place at Skyline High School on Wednesday, injuring one student. Beam had previously coached at Skyline for 16 years before joining Laney College.
The person arrested in connection with his death once played at Skyline High but not when Beam was coaching there, according to police.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a group of Skyline students who had endured a campus lockdown during the shooting Wednesday happened to be visiting Laney on Thursday, when Beam was shot. The students had to shelter in place on a campus in lockdown for the second day in a row due to gunfire.
