Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jason Chin did not make a decision based on Irving’s competency this morning, but instead allowed legal counsel from both sides a period of two weeks to confer on the details of a fourth mental health assessment.
Irving, a former Laney student, faces felony murder and gun charges after allegedly shooting college faculty member John Beam on the college’s campus on Nov. 13, 2025.
Beam mentored scores of junior football players at Oakland’s Laney College and Skyline High School, many from underprivileged backgrounds, during his 44-year-long coaching career. The fifth season of the Netflix series Last Chance U focused on Beam and his students on the Laney Eagles football team during their 2019 season of play.
While Beam retired from coaching football in 2024, he continued to serve as the director of the Laney College’s athletic programs until his death at age 66.
The shooting took place at the Laney College Fieldhouse, just south of Lake Merritt. Initial reports of the shooter described a man in a black hoodie who entered the building alone and fled the scene without being stopped. Beam was transported to Oakland’s Highland Hospital, where he died.
The Peralta Community College District’s board of trustees has since approved “emergency” upgrades to secure and modernize the Fieldhouse building, as well as a plan to rename it after Beam.
Irving has been in custody without bail at Santa Rita Jail since he was detained on Nov. 14, less than a day after Beam was shot.
