College football coach John Beam from ‘Last Chance U’ has died after being shot

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Oakland's celebrated former football coach John Beam, who was featured in the Netflix series “Last Chance U” that showcased his success with players others wouldn’t gamble on, died Friday, a day after being shot on the college campus where he worked.

Police arrested the 27-year-old suspect Friday. Authorities said he knew the 66-year-old coach, and it was a targeted attack.

The shooting at Laney College rattled Oakland, with scores holding a vigil outside the hospital before he died. He was remembered as someone who would help anyone.

Mayor Barbara Lee described Beam as a “giant” in the city who mentored thousands of young people, including her own nephew, and “gave Oakland’s youth their best chance” at success.

“For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family,” Lee said.

Authorities credited technology, specifically cameras at the college campus, private residences and on public transit, in tracking the suspect identified as Cedric Irving Jr.

Irving was arrested without incident at a commuter rail station in Oakland just after 3 a.m. on Friday and police recovered the gun. He was being held at a local jail on charges of murder and carrying a concealed weapon, according to Alameda County’s inmate locator. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday morning. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Irving’s brother, Samuael Irving, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was stunned to learn of the arrest and that his brother excelled academically and athletically in high school, where he ran track and played football. The brother said Cedric grew distant from the family in recent years after an argument with their father. Irving recently lost his job as a security guard after an altercation, his brother said, and then was evicted from his apartment.

“I hope it isn’t him,” Samuael Irving said quietly. “The Cedric I knew wasn’t capable of murder — but the way things had been going, I honestly don’t know.”

Police said the shooting happened Thursday before noon, and officers arrived to find Beam shot.

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,” he said.

Beere did not say how Beam and the suspect 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.

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 developed deep relationships with his players while fielding a team that regularly competed for championships.

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.

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.”

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?”

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, requesting privacy.

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. He retired from coaching in 2024 but stayed on at the school to shape its athletic programs. According to his biography on the college’s website, at least 20 of his players went on to the NFL.

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 after Beam had already left for another job.

The mayor said the back-to-back shootings on Oakland campuses demonstrate “the gun violence crisis playing out in real time." She gave no indication that they were connected.

Catalini reported from Morrisville, Pennsylvania. Associated Press reporters Julie Watson in San Diego and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, center, speaks during a press conference about public safety, a day after football coach John Beam was shot at Laney College, on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Laure Andrillon)

Crime scene tapes ropes off an area one day after a shooting at Laney College in Oakland, Calif., Friday, Nov. 14 2025. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

The Laney Athletics building is seen one day after a shooting at Laney College in Oakland, Calif., Friday, Nov. 14 2025. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

Flowers are seen on campus one day after a shooting at Laney College in Oakland, Calif., Friday, Nov. 14 2025. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

Crime scene tapes ropes off an area after a shooting at Laney College in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

James Beere, assistant chief of police of the Oakland Police Department, speaks during a news conference after a shooting at Laney College in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Law enforcement work the scene after a shooting at Laney College in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Police work the scene after a shooting at Laney College in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Qatar’s prime minister on Saturday said the Gaza ceasefire has reached a “critical moment” as its first phase winds down, with the remains of one Israeli hostage still to be handed over by militants.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told a conference in the Qatari capital that international mediators, led by the U.S., are working “to force the way forward” to the second phase to cement the deal.

“What we have just done is a pause,” he told the Doha Forum. “We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire.”

He added: “A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of Israeli forces, there is stability back in Gaza, people can go in and out, which is not the case today."

While the ceasefire halted the heavy fighting of the two-year war, Gaza health officials say that over 360 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the truce took effect on Oct. 10.

In new violence, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike northwest of Gaza City, Shifa Hospital said.

Israel's army said it wasn't aware of an airstrike in that location. However, it said that Israeli soldiers on Saturday killed three militants who crossed the “yellow line” into Israeli-controlled northern part of Gaza and “posed an immediate threat."

The Israeli army has said it has carried out a number of attacks on Palestinians crossing the ceasefire line.

Under the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan, the fighting stopped and dozens of hostages held in Gaza were exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prison. Israel sent a delegation last week to Egypt for talks on returning the remains of the last hostage.

The next phase has not begun. It includes the deployment of an international security force in Gaza, formation of a new technocratic government for the territory, disarmament of Hamas and an eventual withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Arab and Western officials told The Associated Press on Friday that an international body overseeing the ceasefire, to be led by Trump himself, is expected to be appointed by the end of the year. In the long term, the plan also calls for a possible “pathway” to Palestinian independence.

Qatar’s prime minister said that even the upcoming phase should be “temporary” and that peace in the region could only take place with the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state — something that is opposed by Israel's hard-line government.

“If we are just resolving what happened in Gaza, the catastrophe that happened in the last two years, it’s not enough,” he said. “There is a root for this conflict. And this conflict is not only about Gaza."

He added: “It’s about Gaza. It’s about the West Bank. It’s about the rights of the Palestinians for their state. We are hoping that we can work together with the U.S. administration to achieve this vision at the end of the day.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said there is a “big question” over the formation of an international security force for Gaza. Speaking at the conference, he said it's unclear which countries will join, what the command structure would look like and what its “first mission” will be.

Turkey is one of the guarantors of the ceasefire, but Israel, which has rocky relations with the Ankara government, has rejected any Turkish participation in the force.

“Thousands of details, questions are in place,” Fidan said. "I think once we deploy ISF, the rest will come.”

A day after an overwhelming international endorsement, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said its future role in Gaza is unclear.

Throughout the war, Israel and the United States have sidelined UNRWA, accusing it cooperating with Hamas, a charge UNRWA denies.

Tamara Alrifai, UNRWA’s director of external relations and communications, said the agency continues to offer humanitarian and educational services in Gaza. But she said UNRWA has been excluded from U.S.-led talks on the ceasefire's second phase.

Alrifai said that UNRWA serves as the de facto “public sector” in Gaza. And with 12,000 employees, she said it will be nearly impossible for the international community to duplicate the agency's network of services.

“If you squeeze UNRWA out, what other agency can fill that void?” she said on the sidelines of the Doha Forum.

The U.S., formerly the largest donor to UNRWA, halted funding to the agency in early 2024. On Friday, the U.N. General Assembly renewed UNRWA’s mandate through 2029. But Alrifai said the cash crisis continues.

“Votes are great. Cash is better,” Alrifai said.

The war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants entered Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking over 250 people hostage. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 70,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says that nearly half the dead have been women and children. The ministry is part of Gaza's Hamas government and its numbers are considered reliable by the U.N. and other international bodies.

Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Palestinian fishermen work in the Mediterranean Sea in the port of Gaza City, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians sit on the pavement by the Mediterranean Sea in the port of Gaza City, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A Palestinian man and his fiancee take pictures on the Mediterranean Sea in the port of Gaza City, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians walk by the Mediterranean beach front in Gaza City, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A Palestinian girl sits on a swing in the port of Gaza City on the Mediterranean Sea, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Tents sheltering displaced Palestinians stand amid the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Gaza City Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)