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The individual charged with the murder of revered football coach and Netflix personality John Beam has been revealed in a photograph for the first time.
Cedric Irving Jr., aged 27, was apprehended in the early hours of Friday morning, accused of fatally shooting the 66-year-old athletic director at Laney College in Oakland.
Samuael, the brother of Irving Jr., has expressed his devastation over the tragic incident, describing his profound shock and heartbreak.
“It brought tears to my eyes. I never imagined he could do something like this. I wish he had reached out to us for support, advice, anything, because we’re family,” he lamented.
Samuael also shared that it was he who broke the news of their son’s arrest to their parents, who were equally stunned by the revelation.
Cedric Irving Jr., 27, is the man accused of killing beloved football coach John Beam in Oakland
Beam (pictured with wife Cindi) died at the age of 66 on Friday after being shot on campus
NBC Bay Area visited an address listed for Irving’s father in Ashland and a man on the brink of tears told them: ‘I don’t want to talk right now, OK, because I mean I don’t know what’s going on and until all the facts come out cause I don’t know what’s going on.’
Beam, who starred in Netflix’s college football docuseries ‘Last Chance U’ in 2020, is believed to have been shot in the head by Irving Jr. near the fieldhouse at Laney College’s campus, where he was working as the school’s athletic director, on Thursday.
He was rushed to hospital immediately but later succumbed to his injuries. Irving Jr. was taken into custody without any altercation at around 3am on Friday morning after being apprehended at San Leandro BART station.
Police credited technology, specifically cameras at the college campus, private residences and on public transit, with helping arrest the suspect, who was not named. They also confirmed that a gun has been recovered. Charges are still pending.
Oakland Assistant Chief James Beere revealed Friday that Irving Jr. was known to loiter around Laney’s campus. He added that Irving Jr. was on campus for a ‘specific reason’ but did not elaborate further. ‘This was a very targeted incident,’ he said.
Irving Jr. played football at Skyline High School, where Beam once worked, but not at the time the coach was employed there. He played tight end for the school’s varsity team in 2016 and 2017.
Samuael added that his brother became distant after he left school. ‘Everything changed after he graduated,’ he said. ‘Showed a lot of animosity towards me, even his brother since we were kids.’
Samuael revealed he last spoke to his brother about five months ago and he had stopped calling him and his parents. He did not know his brother owned a gun.
NBC Bay Area also revealed that at Irving Jr.’s last listed address – in the Lockwood Gardens affordable housing community in Oakland – his apartment stands empty with belongings piled up outside.
Beam worked as the athletic director and starred in the 2020 Netflix series ‘Last Chance U’
Beam pictured with his two daughters Sonjha and Monica. He also had two granddaughters
Beam, who is survived by wife Cindi, two daughters and two granddaughters, was a much-loved member of the college sports world after spending over 40 years as a successful football coach.
The family said in a statement that he was a ‘loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, coach, mentor and friend.’
He began his coaching career as an offensive line coach at Serra High School in San Diego, helping them reach the playoffs for the first time in school history.
After moving Oakland, Beam joined Skyline High School as a defensive coordinator in 1982, before being promoted to head coach five years later.
He enjoyed his most successful period at Skyline after winning 15 championships and overseeing four undefeated seasons.
Beam initially joined Laney College as a running backs coach in 2004 and 2005 and was later promoted to offensive coordinator. In that role, he led an explosive offense to three conference championships and five straight bowl game appearances.
In 2012 the esteemed figure stepped up to become head coach, before guiding the team to two league titles and four bowl games.
The Netflix docuseries focused on athletes at junior colleges striving to turn their lives around. Beam gambled on players nobody else wanted and developed deep relationships with them while fielding a team that regularly competed for titles.
It is believed the shooting took place at the fieldhouse on campus at East 8th Street and Fifth Avenue.
Officers initially responded to the incident as if it there was an active shooter – with the college placed on lockdown – before they later determined that was not the case.
Floral tributes began to appear at Laney College on Friday as locals paid their respects
Beam gambled on players nobody wanted and developed relationships with them in the show
Tributes have poured in for Beam after the tragic news, with Piedmont Police Chief Frederick Shavies calling him an ‘absolutely incredible human being.’
‘Our hearts are aching,’ Shavies added at Friday’s news conference.
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said: ‘Coach’s Beam’s legacy isn’t measured in championships or statistics. It’s measured in the thousands of young people he believed in, mentored, and refused to abandon, including my nephew, while at Skyline High school.
‘He gave Oakland’s youth their best chance, and he never stopped fighting for them.’
Lee added: ‘Gun violence has stolen the life of a man who dedicated himself to building up the young people of this city.’
One high-profile player Beam coached at Laney College was CJ Anderson, who went on to carve out a memorable NFL career for himself after playing under him in 2009.
The former Broncos running back, who won a Super Bowl in Denver, took to social media earlier on Friday to urge his old coach to ‘keep fighting’.
Anderson posted: ‘Keep fighting. Keep praying Jesus is King always put your hands on Beam please!!!!’
Two of Beam’s other 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 said in a post with a photo of Beam. His brother shared a photo of the coach alongside a broken heart emoji.