College football coach John Beam, who starred in the Netflix series “Last Chance U,” has died after being shot on campus.
Police Chief Floyd Mitchell announced the coach’s death at a news conference Friday, a day after the shooting.
“This was a very targeted incident,” Assistant Chief James Beere said, adding that the suspect and Beam knew each other.
They weren’t close but the coach was “open to helping everybody in our community.”
Beere did not elaborate on how they knew each other or why the suspect was on campus, saying the suspect played football at Skyline High School but not when Beam worked there.
Beere said the suspect was known to “loiter” around the campus. The suspect was taken into custody without any altercation and a gun has been recovered, the assistant chief added.
Charges were still pending, police said.
Authorities credited technology, specifically cameras at the college campus, private residences and on public transit, with helping arrest the sustepect, who was not named.
The Oakland Police Department announced the beloved coach’s death shortly after revealing that a suspect in the shooting had been arrested.
Before his death, Beam was in critical condition after being shot on Laney College campus Thursday. Few other details were available. It was the second shooting in two days at a school in Oakland.
Oakland 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.
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.
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.
Beam served as athletic director at Laney College and joined the school in 2004 as a running backs coach. He 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 emailed 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.
