4t OAKLAND CHANGES COLOR: Legendary coach John Beam was shot dead on the field of Laney College – where he once “resurrected” hundreds of fates!The death in the midday sun left the whole community speechless: “He was a pillar, a father, a light…” – but who dared to point a gun at that “giant”, and what secret is buried under the grass field he stepped on every day?

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — Legendary Oakland football coach John Beam, who was featured in the Netflix series “Last Chance U”, has died after being shot at Laney College, the Oakland Police Department said Friday, and a suspect has been arrested.

Loved ones remembered Beam as a larger-than-life personality who helped countless athletes turn their lives around and was a “pillar” in the Oakland community.

Beam is survived by his wife, two daughters and granddaughters.

Beam is a football legend in the Bay Area and had coached the sport for over 40 years before becoming solely the school’s athletic director last year. He was 66.

Authorities also confirmed that 27-year-old Cedric Irving Jr. was taken into custody early Friday morning around 3 a.m., and was in possession of a gun, a source told ABC7 News. He was apprehended at San Leandro BART station. Authorities had been searching for the suspect since he fled the scene after the shooting at noon on Thursday.

ABC7 News has learned that legendary Oakland football coach John Beam has died after being shot in the head on Laney College’s campus Thursday afternoon.

Beam was declared deceased at 10 a.m. Friday after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head.

“This was a very targeted incident,” Assistant Chief James Beere said during a Friday press conference, adding that the suspect and Beam knew each other and although they weren’t close, the coach was “open to helping everybody in our community.”

Beere did not elaborate on how they knew each other or why Irving was on campus, saying the suspect played football at Skyline High School but not when Beam worked there. Irving was taken into custody without any altercation and a gun has been recovered, the assistant chief added. Police said that Irving was not a Laney College student but was known to loiter on campus.

In a statement, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee gave her condolences and urged the public to grant Beam’s family privacy.

“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,” she wrote, adding, “Gun violence has stolen the life of a man who dedicated himself to building up the young people of this city.”

Piedmont Police Chief Frederick Shavies called the coach an “absolutely incredible human being.”

“Our hearts are aching,” Shavies said at Friday’s news conference.

The shooting happened at noon Thursday at the Laney Fieldhouse on campus at East 8th Street and Fifth Avenue, just south of Lake Merritt.

Here’s what we know about Laney College Athletic Director John Beam and his legendary career in Oakland sports, following the campus shooting.

The college was placed on lockdown Thursday, which was then lifted. The campus was closed for the rest of the day Thursday but was open Friday.

Oakland police respond to crimes at Laney College but daily security is provided by contracted guards that are not armed. The head of public safety for the community college district just last month proposed creating an in-house security team that would be armed.

In addition to the increased security we’ve seen on campus Friday, counselors were also supposed to be on hand here as well.

Nineteen-year-old Geovanni Valverde and his teammates were stunned to hear that Beam had been shot.

“I was shocked. It didn’t feel real. It was really a surreal moment,” said Valverde, a Laney College football player.

Valverde, who plays left guard for Laney College football, says Beam has had a big impact on the lives of many young players.

“He recruited all of us to play at Laney. I know it was another opportunity to play football,” he said. “He helped a lot of people go to the NFL. He gave people what they don’t really get. How they were raised and stuff.

Laney is a public community college and is part of the four-campus Peralta Community College District.

The district released the following statement in response to the shooting:

“At approximately noon, a senior member of our athletic staff was shot on campus in the Laney Field House. The individual was immediately transported to a local hospital, and we are keeping them-and their loved ones-in our hearts during this incredibly difficult time. Out of respect for their privacy, we are not releasing their name at this moment.”

Friends and former colleagues of Beam are also reacting to the news.

“What happened today sends shockwaves through the community,” said Lou Richie, head basketball coach at Bishop O’Dowd High School and a friend of Beam’s. “He has affected more kids than anyone I know in Oakland and has stayed true to his form all of these years. He tells you how he sees it, and he doesn’t go back on his word. He’s one of a kind, that’s for sure.”

“To see today where someone who is a pillar in our community suffers at the hands of gun violence lets me know there’s much more work that needs to be done,” said LaRonne Armstrong, former Oakland police chief, basketball coach, and friend of Beam’s. “My efforts, along with many others’ efforts to try and reduce violence in the city of Oakland, has still not gotten us to a safe place.”