John Beam, a decorated football coach who featured in the Netflix series “Last Chance U,” was shot at a campus in California, Oakland’s mayor said. Authorities are asking the public for help in identifying a potential suspect in the case.
The shooting occurred around noon on Thursday at Laney College in the Laney Field House, the Peralta Community College District said in a statement. The school district did not name the victim, citing privacy reasons, but said a senior member of staff from the athletic department had been taken to hospital following the incident.
John Beam, a decorated football coach who featured in the Netflix series “Last Chance U,” was shot at a campus in California, Oakland’s mayor said. Authorities are asking the public for help in identifying a potential suspect in the case.
The shooting occurred around noon on Thursday at Laney College in the Laney Field House, the Peralta Community College District said in a statement. The school district did not name the victim, citing privacy reasons, but said a senior member of staff from the athletic department had been taken to hospital following the incident.
Police placed the college campus into lockdown, however the threat from a shooter is no longer active, the district said. It described the shooting as a “frightening moment for our community” and said it was working with authorities to ensure the campus remains safe.
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee (D) confirmed Beam had been shot in a post on social media. “The last two days have been incredibly heavy for our city,” she said, noting it was the “second shooting on an Oakland campus in two days.”
“Coach Beam is a giant in Oakland — a mentor, an educator, and a lifeline for thousands of young people. For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family,” she wrote.
Oakland assistant police chief James Beere said in a news conference Thursday that a police investigation is underway with authorities focusing on analyzing the crime scene, reviewing surveillance footage and interviewing witnesses.
“We’re currently asking the public’s help in locating … the potential suspect in this case. It’s a male, unknown race wearing all dark clothing and a black hoodie, that fled the scene,” he said.
Beam started working as running backs coach at Laney College in 2004 before moving to head football coach in 2012. Josh Ramos was named the head football coach in 2024, but Beam remains the athletics director at the college.
He started his coaching career in 1979 in San Diego, before moving to Oakland and coaching at Skyline High School in 1982.
The coach is reported to have produced over 20 NFL players and won several league championships in his career that spanned more than four decades. He has coached players who have won at every level of football, including an NCAA Division I national championship, NCAA Division III national championship, Canadian Grey Cup, NFL Europe championship and Arena League championship, according to Laney College.
Beam rose to national prominence when the Laney College Eagles were featured in the Netflix documentary series “Last Chance U” in Season 5, which aired in 2020. The show follows athletes from difficult backgrounds as they navigate their education and sports careers.
“They have the weight of the world sometimes on their shoulders,” Beam says in a trailer for the show. “Our job is to believe in them, so that they can believe in themselves.”
Oakland officials said the shooting followed a separate shooting at another school campus a day earlier and voiced concerns about gun violence.
“Schools should be the safest spaces in our city. We need guns off our streets now,” Lee said.
Oakland Police Department said they had arrested two minors in connection with the Wednesday shooting at Skyline High School, with one minor suffering from a gunshot wound taken to hospital in a stable condition.
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