US coach featured on Netflix series dies after on-campus shooting
Former American football coach John Beam, who appeared in the Netflix series Last Chance U, has died after being shot.
The shooting took place Thursday at Laney College in Oakland, California. On Friday, police said they had arrested a suspect, but provided no motive for the attack.
Oakland police said the suspect never played football for Beam but knew the coach. US media identified the suspect as Cedric Irving Jr.
Tributes have been pouring in for Beam, 66, who was the college’s athletic 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 in his honor outside the hospital where he was being treated Thursday evening, according to authorities.
Beam was featured in the fifth season of Last Chance U. The series features him and his team, the Laney Eagles, as they fend off rival teams in the Northern California town.
The eight-part documentary series, which aired in 2020, focused on the team’s successes and struggles, as well as the socio-economics and gentrification of the city of Oakland.
Police say the suspect was arrested overnight at a local bus stop and found carrying a gun. He was taken into custody without incident.
Acting Oakland Police Chief James Beere said that while the suspect knew Beam, “they had no relationship,” even though the coach was “open to helping everyone in this community.”
He said the suspect — who was not a Laney College student but was known to hang around the college — had been on 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 to thousands of young people.”
“For more than 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is reeling alongside his family,” she said in a statement.
Two brothers who played under Beam before playing in the NFL also paid tribute.
Rejzohn Wright of the New Orleans Saints posted a photo of Beam with the caption “you are everything to me.”
Nahshon Wright of the Chicago Bears also shared a photo of Beam, adding a broken heart emoji.
It was the second school shooting in Oakland in two days.
A shooting took place Wednesday at Skyline High School, injuring a student. Beam had previously coached at Skyline for 16 years before joining Laney College.
The person arrested in connection with his death previously played at Skyline High, but not when Beam was coach there, according to police.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a group of Skyline students who had been stranded on campus during Wednesday’s shooting were visiting Laney on Thursday when Beam was shot. Students had to shelter in place on a lockdown campus for the second day in a row due to gunfire.
