Former Laney College football coach John Beam was shot and killed last week on the Oakland campus where he spent decades building players, programs and a community. On Monday, prosecutors announced that 27-year-old Cedric Irving Jr. has been charged with murder in connection with Beam's death.
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Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson said Irving faces 50 years to life if convicted, the AP reported. He's also been hit with enhancement charges for allegedly firing the shot that caused Beam's fatal injury and for targeting a particularly vulnerable victim, with prosecutors noting Beam's age.
Beam, 66, was a beloved figure in Oakland football circles — both at Laney College, where he spent more than 20 years, and at Skyline High School, where he coached before moving to the junior college ranks.
His connection to players and his ability to lift programs made him a central character in Netflix's 2020 season of Last Chance U. Beam had retired from coaching last year but remained the school's athletic director.
"He really is the best of Oakland — was the best of Oakland," Jones Dickson said. "His spirit is still here."
Police say officers responded to Laney's athletic field house late Thursday morning and found Beam with a gunshot wound to the head. He was taken to a hospital and died the following day.
According to the probable-cause document, Irving was arrested hours later at a Bay Area commuter rail station while carrying the firearm used in the shooting. Police say he admitted to carrying out the attack. Investigators described the shooting as "very targeted," though they declined to elaborate on a motive. Irving had no criminal history.
The killing happened during a chaotic week for Oakland schools. A student was shot at Skyline High one day earlier, and both campuses endured lockdowns.
Beam joined Laney in 2004 and took over as head coach in 2012, winning two league titles and sending at least 20 players to the NFL. He is remembered as a mentor, a builder, and a father figure to hundreds of young athletes over more than four decades.
