OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Laney College football coach John Beam, who was featured in the Netflix series “Last Chance U”, has died after being shot on campus, the Oakland Police Department said Friday, and a suspect has been arrested.
Beam's death a day after he was shot shook the community with scores holding a vigil outside the hospital before he died and remembering as someone who always tried to help anyone.
Oakland Assistant Chief James Beere said the suspect went on campus for a “specific reason” but did not elaborate on what that was.
“This was a very targeted incident,” Beere said, adding that the suspect and Beam knew each other and although they weren’t close, the coach was “open to helping everybody in our community.”
Beere did not say how they knew each other but said the suspect was known to loiter around the Laney campus. The suspect had played football at a high school where Beam had worked but not at the time the coach was employed there.
The suspect was taken into custody without any altercation and a gun has been recovered, the assistant chief added. Charges were still pending.
Authorities credited technology, specifically cameras at the college campus, private residences and on public transit, with helping arrest the suspect, who was not named.
Police said the shooting happened Thursday before noon, and officers arrived to find Beam shot. Few other details were available. It was the second shooting in two days at a school in Oakland.
The Netflix docuseries focused on athletes at junior colleges striving to turn their lives around, and Beam’s Laney College Eagles starred in the 2020 season. Beam gambled on players nobody else wanted. He developed deep relationships with his players while fielding a team that regularly competed for championships.
Beam’s family said in a statement that he was a “loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, coach, mentor and friend.”
“Our hearts are full from the outpouring of love,” the family said, asking for privacy.
Piedmont Police Chief Fred Shavies, who previously served as a deputy chief in the Oakland Police Department said he was a friend, mentee and long time admirer of Beam.
“John was so much more than a coach,” he said. “He was a father figure to thousands of not only men but young women in our community.”
Hundreds of people held a vigil outside the hospital where he “fought” as he taught so many to do over the last 40 years, he added.
Shavies said he met Beam when he was in the eighth grade and he supported him after Shavies lost his father in high school, calling him “an absolutely incredible human being.” He asked how did Beam leave his mark on so many people “with just 24 hours in a day, right?”
Two of Beam’s former players — brothers Nahshon and Rejzohn Wright, now in the NFL with the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints — posted on social media after the shooting.
“You mean the world to me,” Rejzohn Wright said in a post with a photo of Beam.
His brother shared a photo of the coach alongside a broken heart emoji.
Mayor Barbara Lee described Beam as a “giant” and a mentor, educator and lifeline for young people.
“For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family,” Lee said.
Beam, who was serving as athletic director, joined Laney College in 2004 as a running backs coach and became head coach in 2012, winning two league titles. According to his biography on the college’s website, 20 of his players have gone on to the NFL.
“The Peralta community is devastated by his shooting and deeply concerned for his well-being. We are stunned and heartbroken that such violence has touched our campus,” Mark Johnson a spokesperson for Peralta Community College District said in an e-mailed statement on Beam's current medical status.
Beam’s shooting came a day after a student was shot at Oakland’s Skyline High School. The student is in stable condition. Beam had previously worked at Skyline High School and the suspect had played football there but after Beam had already left for another job.
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Catalini reported from Morrisville, Pennsylvania. Associated Press reporters Julie Watson in San Diego and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.
