OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A 27-year-old man was charged Monday with murder in the shooting death of celebrated former football coach John Beam, who died Friday after being shot in the head on the junior college campus in Oakland where he worked.
Cedric Irving Jr. could face 50 years to life if convicted, said Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson at a Monday press conference. Irving also faces enhancement charges alleging he personally fired a gun that caused great bodily injury and that the victim was particularly vulnerable, possibly due to age, according to the charging complaint.
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Flowers and signs are displayed at a sidewalk memorial for former Oakland football coach John Beam at Laney College, in Oakland, Calif., Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Jayne Moser looks at a sidewalk memorial for former football coach John Beam at Laney College, in Oakland, Calif., Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson speaks about charges for suspect Cedric Irving in the shooting of football coach John Beam at a news conference in Oakland, Calif., Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Leticia Palazzo contributes to a makeshift memorial outside the Laney College Athletics Fieldhouse for Athletic Director John Beam, who was shot Thursday, in Oakland, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Beam, 66, was a giant in the local community, a father figure who forged deep relationships with his players while fielding a team that regularly competed for championships. The Netflix docuseries “Last Chance U” focused on Beam and the Laney Eagles in its 2020 season. He’d most recently been serving as the school’s athletic director after retiring from coaching last year.
“He really is the best of Oakland — was the best of Oakland,” Jones Dickson said. "His spirit is still here.”
The district attorney said Irving had no criminal record. He is being held without bail, and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. The Alameda County Public Defender’s Office said it has not been appointed to represent Irving and declined comment.
Back-to-back shootings at two schools last week have roiled Oakland, a city of roughly 400,000 across the bay from San Francisco. On Wednesday, a student was shot at Oakland’s Skyline High School. The student is in stable condition and two juveniles were in custody.
Jones Dickson said Skyline students were on a field trip at Laney College and had to suffer through two lockdowns in the same week. She said it was time to bring accountability into the debate over gun violence because too many young people were being hurt by easy access to firearms.
“That’s unacceptable that we have children in our community who now this is the norm. Two days in a row that they’re locked down for gun violence on a campus. I’m not good with that,” she said.
Officers arrived at Laney College before noon Thursday to find Beam shot in the head at the athletics field house. He was treated at a hospital, but died the following day from his injuries.
Irving was arrested at a commuter rail station just after 3 a.m. Friday. He was carrying the firearm used to shoot Beam, and he admitted to carrying out the shooting, according to the probable cause document.
Oakland Police Assistant Chief James Beere said the suspect went on campus for a “specific reason” but did not elaborate. “This was a very targeted incident,” he said at a Friday news conference.
Beere did not say how the two men knew each other but said Irving was known to hang around the Laney campus. Irving's brother told the San Francisco Chronicle that Irving had lost his job as a security guard after an altercation and was facing eviction at home.
Beam joined Laney College in 2004 as a running backs coach and became head coach in 2012, winning two league titles. According to his biography on the college’s website, at least 20 of his players went on to the NFL.
Beam previously worked at Skyline High School, where Irving had played football but after Beam had left for another job.
Flowers and signs are displayed at a sidewalk memorial for former Oakland football coach John Beam at Laney College, in Oakland, Calif., Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Jayne Moser looks at a sidewalk memorial for former football coach John Beam at Laney College, in Oakland, Calif., Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson speaks about charges for suspect Cedric Irving in the shooting of football coach John Beam at a news conference in Oakland, Calif., Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Leticia Palazzo contributes to a makeshift memorial outside the Laney College Athletics Fieldhouse for Athletic Director John Beam, who was shot Thursday, in Oakland, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
CHICAGO (AP) — Derrick Rose figured he would experience all sorts of emotions when he saw his banner hang from the rafters. They started flowing long before the moment arrived.
The Chicago Bulls retired his No. 1 following their win over the Boston Celtics on Saturday night. And the kid who went from growing up in a rough South Side neighborhood to starring for his hometown team was ready for the moment.
“I had someone or a journalist ask me, ‘Man, did you cry?’ I told him I cry every day,” Rose said. "And he asked about what. Being joyful, knowing where I grew up, knowing my coming back here, my being practical with knowing the economy, with me being there, and the neighborhoods. And you just know.
"That’s one of the reasons why I came back, is to curate things and to employ people.”
Rose joined Michael Jordan (23), Scottie Pippen (33), Jerry Sloan (4) and Bob Love (10) as the only players whose numbers have been retired by the team.
He shed tears during emotional speeches by former teammates Taj Gibson, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah and by coach Tom Thibodeau. He got choked up when he addressed his mother and older brothers as well as his wife, two sons and daughter. There were hugs and smiles, too, when the banner was unveiled.
Rose had already gotten a glimpse at it. On Friday, the Bulls posted video on social media of him seeing it for the first time.
Rose said seeing the banner was “unreal.” But it hadn't really sunk in.
“All this, the moment, I’m still trying to take in, I’m still trying to process in real time,” he said. “And yeah, and just feeling grateful, you know what I mean? Like knowing the weather conditions out there, knowing that it’s a Chicago thing to even show up here, to fight through that and still go to an event. It’s huge, so it’s something that I’m grateful for.”
The video the Bulls posted shows a wide-eyed Rose walking out to center court. He lets out a “wow, are you serious?” as he gazes at the unfurled banner in front of the scorer's table. He squats, walks over and touches it, rubbing his hand over the No. 1. He's then joined by his family as well as former teammates Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and Kirk Hinrich.
Noah says in the video seeing Rose's number raised to the rafters “is our championship moment.”
On Saturday, there were black Rose jerseys at each seat. The Bulls posted video from Jordan and Pippen congratulating him. Rose left roses from his flower shop — Rose's Flower Shop — in both teams' locker rooms before the game.
“He instilled that heart, he instilled that trust in us and that made us come out and fight for you every single night,” Gibson told the crowd.
Former coach Tom Thibodeau called Rose “a basketball savant" whose humility is what really made him stand out.
“The next stop, in my opinion, is the Hall of Fame and there is no doubt about that,” he said.
This isn't the first time the team honored Rose. The Bulls did it when they played New York on Jan. 4, 2025, symbolizing the date as well as the numbers he wore with the Bulls as well as the Knicks and Chicago's Simeon Career Academy. That same day, the Bulls announced they would retire Rose's jersey.
Rose, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft, went from being Rookie of the Year to an All-Star to NBA MVP in his first three seasons. He remains the league’s youngest MVP, winning it when he was 22.
A major knee injury during the 2012 playoffs forced him to miss almost two full seasons and he contemplated stepping away from the game several times following other injury issues.
Rose averaged 17.4 points and 5.2 assists in 723 regular-season games. He averaged 21 points per game before the ACL tear 12 years ago and 15.1 per game in the seasons that followed. But he doesn't dwell on what might have been.
At 37, Rose is more focused on his family and business interests, like an online flower shop and employing people from the city. Or his work promoting participation in chess, particularly among at-rise youngsters. He's not all that interested in working in basketball.
“Everybody thinks the the path or the motif was, 'All right, after you get done, you gotta go back and be around basketball,'” he said. “I didn’t want that. I wanted to curate things or be in lanes that nobody was in. Coming from Chicago, when you tend to enter lanes that people are in, you step on toes and certain things can happen.
"So with me having that in mind, I wanted curate things so that I don’t have to worry about any competition.”
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Former Chicago Bulls player Derrick Rose, talks during a press conference before an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Chicago. Rose's jersey will be retired after the game today. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)
Former Chicago Bulls player Derrick Rose, center, laughs while talking with writer Sam Smith, right, after a press conference, before an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Chicago. Rose's jersey will be retired after the game today. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)
Former Chicago Bulls player Derrick Rose, smiles after a press conference before an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)
Chicago Bulls guard Kevin Huerter walks into United Center wearing a jersey for former player Derrick Rose before an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)
Former Chicago Bulls player Derrick Rose, left, fist bumps fans before an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Chicago. Rose's jersey will be retired after the game today. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)
