Police have arrested a former Oakland, Calif., high school athlete in connection with the shooting death of Laney College athletic director and form head football coach John Beam.
According to NBC News, Cedric Irving Jr., a 27-year-old former high school football player was arrested without incident, police said.
Irving played at Skyline High School in Oakland but not when Beam coached there.
Beam knew Irving, but police declined to elaborate further on a motive for the killing.
"I will say that coach Beam, although they did not have a close relationship, was open to helping everybody in our community and this is not uncommon for him to have a relationship with someone that he would think needs help," Oakland assistant police chief James Beere told reporters.
"In this case, I can just tell you that the individual that was arrested went specifically to the campus for a specific reason."
Beam was shot Thursday at the Laney College Fieldhouse and was immediately flown to a nearby hospital. He was shot in the head.
Cedric Irving's brother, Samuel, said he was shocked to hear of the incident.
“Hearing about my brother’s arrest shocked me a lot. It made me tear up. I couldn’t believe he would have done such a thing like this. I wish he would have just came to his family for help or advice or just anything because we’re family,” Samuel Irving said.
Oakland mayor Barbara Lee called Beam, who was featured on the Netflix docuseries "Last Chance U.", a "giant in Oakland."
"Coach Beam’s legacy isn’t measured in championships or statistics, even though they are great," Lee told reporters. "It's measured in the thousands of young people he believed in, mentored and refused to abandon."
