Beam was shot in the Laney Field House on Thursday afternoon, leaving the campus on lockdown as police secured the scene and investigated. As news of the shooting spread, many of his former players gathered at Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was admitted.
“Like many of you, I struggle to comprehend the tragic loss of someone with so much bravado, enthusiasm, and tenacity for life,” Chancellor Tammeil Gilkerson of the Peralta Community College District wrote in a message to the district community Friday afternoon. “John’s vibrancy could be felt in every space he entered, proudly wearing his passion for students, Laney College, and Oakland.”
Across his 45-year career at Skyline High and Laney College, Beam coached over 2,500 players, including more than 200 who reached NCAA Division I programs and more than 30 who went on to appear in the NFL, Gilkerson said.
Still, he was known just as much for developing players into successful young men off the field and in the classroom, providing mentorship and an “unwavering love for the City of Oakland,” Gilkerson said.
Laney College on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Oakland, California. (David M. Barreda/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
“There are no real words to express my profound sorrow, but it is only softened by the tremendous gratitude I feel for the opportunity I had to work alongside him,” she said. “John made me laugh, infuriated me on some days, elevated my thinking, and constantly challenged me to be better for Peralta and for Oakland.”
Laney College’s campus was quiet the morning after the shooting, with security guards standing outside classrooms and in courtyards.
While classes are back in session, the parking lot to the athletics building where Beam was shot was cordoned off with police tape. A single vase of flowers and a candle marked the entrance.
This week, Oakland faced two shootings on school property, placing the campuses on temporary lockdown. On Wednesday, a young person was shot at Skyline High School, and two minors were taken into custody. Lee said during a Friday news conference that it has “been an incredibly difficult week for the city” and called it “the gun violence crisis playing out in real time.”
Mayor Barbara Lee speaks during a press conference at Oakland City Hall in Oakland on Aug. 14, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
“Our work continues to get guns off of the streets of Oakland,” she said.
Gilkerson said that there will be drop-in employee and student counseling services available across the community college district.
“These acts of violence are incredibly painful and are individually experienced in many different ways,” Gilkerson wrote. “The notification may also bring up feelings from other incidents that I know, sadly, many of you have experienced.”
In an interview with KQED in 2020, Beam spoke about his aspirations for his players.
“I put the jerseys [of Laney alumni in the NFL] up there to inspire folks,” he said. “But then on Thursdays, I bring in other folks that come in that have played for me that are now doctors, or write books, or are police officers, or firemen. And so I want to let everybody know that these are all possibilities.”
KQED’s Jared Servantez, Eliza Peppel and Ayah Ali-Ahmad contributed to this report.
