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Suspect charged with murder in shooting death of Laney College coach
Cedric Irving Jr., 27, charged with murder in slaying of John Beam, respected athletic director and former head football coach at Laney College in Oakland.
OAKLAND, Calif. - The Alameda County District Attorney on Monday charged a 27-year-old man following last week's shooting death of the legendary Laney College football coach, John Beam.
Murder charge
District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson said the handgun Irving had at the time of his arrest was registered to him.
"There are way too many guns on the street, in hands where they shouldn’t be," Jones Dickson said at a news conference. "And a lot of those hands, unfortunately (belong to) young people."
Dickson added that Beam was shot in the head.
Police wrote in court documents that Irving admitted to shooting Beam with that .22-caliber handgun.
Witchcraft allegation
Law enforcement sources also told KTVU that Irving believed Beam had used witchcraft on him. They did not elaborate. The Chronicle was first to report that development.
The district attorney would not comment on those accusations.
Police and prosecutors, including Asst. District Attorney Brian Owens, accuse Irving of walking into the Oakland community college's fieldhouse on Thursday before noon, pulling the trigger and killing Beam, a coach of more than four decades who was known for shaping young athletes on and off the field. He and Laney College were featured in the Netflix series, "Last Chance U," in 2020.
Irving is being held in Housing Unit 9F, the behavioral health unit of Santa Rita Jail, records show. No bail has been set. He is scheduled to appear in court in person on Tuesday in Department 112 before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Michael Risher.
The public defender's office said they had not yet been appointed as counsel and had no comment.
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DA: Coach John Beam sustained gunshot wound to head
Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson said that slain coach John Beam was shot in the head. The suspect, Cedric Irving Jr., has been charged with murder.
Motive unknown
A motive for shooting Beam has not been made public, but last week, Oakland police said Irving was on campus for a "specific purpose" and "targeted" the coach.
Efforts to reach him or his brother were not immediately successful on Monday. His brother told the San Francisco Chronicle that Cedric played football at Skyline, after Beam’s time there, and then at Laney. "I hope it wasn’t him," Samuael Irving told the paper. "The Cedric I knew wasn’t capable of murder."
He told the Chronicle that his brother had excelled academically and athletically in high school where he ran track and played football, but grew distant from the family in recent years following an argument with their father.
Irving had worked as a security guard but lost his job after an altercation, his brother told the Chronicle. More recently, he was evicted from his apartment.
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John Beam: Oakland football coach dies in 'targeted' shooting
Oakland police on Friday arrested a suspect following the death of legendary Laney College football coach, John Beam, who died from his gunshot wounds in what authorities described cryptically as a "targeted" shooting.
Extraordinary coach
All of Beam's many supporters described the 66-year-old as an extraordinary coach who gave people second chances, fed them when they were hungry and made sure they weren't falling behind in their schoolwork.
Some estimate that Beam helped thousands of players over the course of his storied career.
In fact, Jones Dixon said at the news conference that her son was at football camp several years ago, and Beam "took the time just to talk to him and encourage him and engage him and tell him how good he was."
One of the most recent tributes came Sunday when Chicago Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright – who once played under Beam at Laney College – had a stunning moment Sunday night in a victory against the Minnesota Vikings when he intercepted a touchdown pass.
Immediately after, Wright went to the back of the end zone, dropped to one knee and lowered his head for Beam, who helped him and his brother, Rejzohn Wright, also an NFL player, when their father was shot and killed in 2017.
Teammates hugged him and helped him to his feet.
"We talked once a week, easily," Wright told reporters. "He did a lot for me and my brother."
Laney shooting happened day after Skyline High shooting
What we know:
Beam was shot a day after a 15-year-old boy was shot and wounded in a bathroom at Skyline High School in the Oakland hills. Police arrested two boys and seized two ghost guns.
And some Skyline students were at Laney the day Beam was shot for a field trip, and those students found themselves in a lockdown for the second day in a row.
Students at Skyline and several other high schools plan to walk out around noon Tuesday to demand safety. The school board meets on Wednesday, and Skyline will have a town hall on Thursday.
"We're trying to organize to figure out how we can make sure that something like this doesn't happen again," said Tatsu Yamato, a Skyline parent. "I hope that this is rock bottom because, again, skyline has a lot of good things about it, but we can't continue on this pathway."