The story was updated at 11:19 a.m. to include the link for “Laney community describes ‘commotion’ and ‘tension’ during Nov. 13 college lockdown.”

Oakland –The Citizen has confirmed that at least 23 minutes lapsed between the time athletic director John Beam was fatally shot at the Laney College Fieldhouse and when the Peralta community was notified, according to public records. As the community continues to reel from the Nov. 13 shooting, members of the community have expressed confusion and concern as details surrounding the shooting remain unclear.

The first alert was sent on Nov. 13 at 12:16 p.m., through the RAVE mass notification system, warning students and employees from Laney about an “active shooter at the Laney Fieldhouse.” The alert advised all recipients to “stay locked down until further notice.”

The FBI’s definition of an active shooter situation is “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.”

The Citizen obtained records from the Alameda County Recorder’s Office that show former Laney athletic director John Beam suffered a “gunshot wound to the head” at 11:53 a.m..

Although an Oakland Police Department (OPD) incident report shows that officers first made contact with Beam at the same exact time, the date of contact is listed as Nov. 14 – the next day.

The Citizen contacted OPD to confirm the exact time – and date – officers arrived at the scene of the crime.

A representative did not acknowledge the date discrepancy, and wrote, “According to our CAD system, the incident time is listed as 11:53 a.m.. Because this is an ongoing investigation, no additional details will be released at this time.”

A separate incident report from Peralta’s public crime log, which uses the ARMS portal platform, also matches the description of the shooting. According to the district’s portal, at 11:50 a.m. the incident previously reported as aggravated assault with a firearm was updated to homicide at the Laney Fieldhouse. The locations included in the report indicate towards the second story of the Fieldhouse and the parking lot as the locations of the crime.

The Citizen reached out to Interim Executive Director of Community Safety Abdul Pridgen to try to pinpoint the exact time of the shooting. Pridgen wrote in an email, “at this time, I’m not able to offer additional comment or clarification regarding the November 13 incident beyond what has already been shared.”

After the lock down

A final notification was sent on Nov. 13 to the Laney community, at 1:01 p.m., informing students and employees that the active shooter lock down had been lifted and campus would remain closed for the rest of the day.

According to booking records from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, the suspect in custody, Cedric Irving, Jr., was arrested in San Leandro at 4:01 a.m. on Nov. 14.

OPD officials announced during a press conference that Beam had died at 10 a.m. that same day.

After several requests for an interview, the Peralta district has declined to provide additional specific information about what happened that day, due to the case being an “active investigation.”

The Laney community reacts

On Jan. 16, during Laney’s Flex day, a professional development day before the start of each semester, Pridgen and Interim President Becky Opsata gave a presentation where they informed Laney employees of upcoming security updates on campus.

Machine Technology Department Chair Adam Balogh expressed concern over the response time of the district’s notification during the Nov. 13 shooting, explaining that most people experienced a mix of “abstract terror” and “a lack of information.”

”It was clear in that moment that some people knew more than others,” Balogh said.

During the presentation, Balogh said that he knew of the gap in time between the shooting and when the lock down alert was sent to employees.

“Think about what could have happened in those 20 minutes,” Balogh told Pridgen, “it could have been something worse.”

While addressing Balogh’s comments, Pridgen advised those on campus to directly call 911 when there is an emergency event to prevent “delay” in communicating information to the proper authorities, since district safety officials must first vet each situation before they can appropriately dispatch a response.

“As you all know, we don’t have the ability to respond to an emergency,” Pridgen said. “Community Safety is not equipped to respond to [a situation requiring police, fire, or ambulance].”

He added that he did not know the “specific timeframe” of when the lock down alert was sent out compared to when OPD arrived on campus, but said it “takes time to communicate a message.”

In an interview with The Citizen Balogh said, “It wasn’t clear what you should even do that day.”

Balogh stated that he “understands” the district did not want to “spread rumors” and wanted to “keep the privacy” of the victim, but believes that things could have been worse if there was a “real active shooter.”

Two Laney employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation, told The Citizen their accounts of what happened on the day of the shooting. Their timelines conflict with the initial RAVE alert.

One employee showed The Citizen that, at 12:11 p.m. on Nov. 13, they received a phone call on their personal cell phone from a colleague who told them to lock the doors in their building and hide. The colleague did not immediately provide a reason for the warning.

“I was trying to remain calm and shut everything down,” they said. They told The Citizen that the event was “very triggering.”

Along with several other members of the Laney community, they said that they hunkered down in their building and hid. According to their records, they received a notification that the lockdown was lifted at 1:02 p.m..

The other employee, who was not on campus at the time of the shooting, shared with The Citizen that they received a voicemail message at 12:17 p.m., warning of an active shooter at the Laney Fieldhouse.

They also shared an internal email that shows Laney employees received notice at 1:02 p.m. that “OPD confirmed there is no longer an active threat on campus.”

They remarked that “this never should have happened,” and feared that the shooting could have been a much larger incident.

“If anyone came across him it could have been a massacre,” they said, referring to Irving.

They continued, “I still don’t personally feel safe on campus.”

Laney student Nathaniel Johnson told The Citizen he was worried that “anything could have happened to anyone” in that time between when the shooting happened and when the lock down alert was sent.

“In reality, I think they dropped the ball,” Johnson said.

Johnson said that, on the day of the shooting, he was in his car near the back gate of the Laney parking lot. He remembered hearing a loud noise that might have been a gunshot.

“I thought I heard something but I wasn’t paying attention […] ‘cause I had my music loud,” Johnson said.

He left soon after. While on his way home, he said he received a text notification about the shooting.

“I was at the light by the Burger King and I got a notification […] and I’m like ‘I was just there,’” Johnson said. The Burger King is on East 12th Street, about a mile from the Fieldhouse where the shooting occurred.

Peralta’s Executive Director of Marketing, Communications, and Public Relations Mark Johnson told The Citizen since the Nov. 13 shooting, he alongside Pridgen have done outreach to hear directly from Laney and the greater district community.

“We are aware of the concerns expressed,” Mark Johnson said. “We are listening to the community and trying to help as much as we can.”

Emergency response protocol at Peralta

The Jeanne Clery Act is a 1990 federal law that requires colleges and universities to report campus crime data and issue annual security reports.

In the most recent version of Peralta’s Annual Security Report, “timely warnings” are defined as occurring in a “reasonably practical” amount of time when a Clery-Act crime is reported. Warnings are issued as soon as “pertinent information is available” after a report is made.

The Peralta district sends emergency alerts with the RAVE Mobile Safety’s mass notification system. RAVE is used to report crimes districtwide and send campus-specific emergency alerts via text, email, voicemail messages, and phone calls.

Peralta first contracted with RAVE in 2024 in accordance with the California Governor’s Office Next Generation 911 Alert and Warning Systems initiative. The program was first introduced in 2019 as a statewide initiative to modernize and upgrade outdated emergency alert systems across the state.

In an email to The Citizen, Mark Johnson said students and employees are automatically signed up for RAVE alerts through their PeopleSoft accounts, the district’s internal business management software.

Johnson added that there are still some students and employees that do not have updated contact information in their PeopleSoft accounts and wants students to make sure they have an emergency contact listed.

Pridgen stated that the district must go through a “verification process” to determine “whether an emergency alert is warranted.”

In an email to The Citizen, Pridgen wrote, “This is not intended to impede the notification process, but to ensure the information communicated is accurate, actionable, and does not cause undue confusion or panic.”

He added that once reports are  “received and confirmed” a determination is made and “the appropriate authorities are notified,” but did not elaborate further.

Johnson told The Citizen that so far, all RAVE alerts have been sent by Pridgen or himself. Johnson also said that there are several other personnel from departments within the district office that have authorization to send emergency alerts.

On Nov. 18, 2025, days after the shooting, Pridgen and Johnson sat in during a District Academic Senate meeting and responded to faculty members’ questions and concerns following the shooting. Pridgen said that historically the district sends out alerts to the campus or campuses that are directly affected by an emergency.

Berkeley City College Academic Senate President and political science instructor Matthew Freeman told The Citizen that he did not receive a RAVE alert, but some students in his class who attend Laney College did. He added that he believes the RAVE alert should have gone out to all students and employees district-wide.

“The intent of RAVE is to send out communication,” Freeman said. “Who that communication goes out to should be broader.”

Freeman expressed that he wasn’t sure what to tell his students who received the alert but were scheduled to attend a class at Laney later that day.

Security at Peralta

An active shooter guideline can be found on the PeraltaSafety app. PeraltaSafety is a free to download app that provides safety services for Peralta students and employees such as emergency procedures guidance, a direct 911 line, and a tip line to make a security or medical emergency report.

In the emergency procedures section of the PeraltaSafety app, users are advised to follow the ALICE guidelines, an acronym that describes a set of “response options” to prepare for and combat an active shooter event. This includes directions for locking down in a safe area, communicating with police dispatch, and direct encounters with a shooter.

Other inconsistencies following the shooting

In the OPD press conference on Nov. 14, Interim Chief of Police James Beere stated that the shooting was “targeted” and was not an active shooter situation. Beere said that Irving knew Beam, but they “did not have a relationship.” Beere added that Irving “was not a Laney student.”

Since that press conference, The Citizen and San Francisco Chronicle have independently confirmed that Irving was, at one point, a student at Laney.

When asked about the nature of Beam and Irving’s relationship, OPD officials wrote in an email to The Citizen that, “During the preliminary investigation, Chief Beere made a statement. We later learned that the suspect attended Laney College. Any information regarding whether they knew each other will have to come from Laney.”

When The Citizen asked whether the department knew the nature of Irving’s relationship to Beam, OPD stated that “this is all part of the ongoing investigation,” and that “no other statements will be released at this time” since the case “remains an active investigation.”

Several reporters, including two from The Citizen, were escorted out of the press conference for not carrying OPD issued media credentials.

Other uncertainties

The Citizen spoke to the CEO and founder of Diligence Security Group, Joy Baucom, after the Fieldhouse shooting. Diligence is the private security company that provides unarmed security operations at Laney.

Baucom stated she did not know what time the RAVE alert was sent out, but that Peralta “did the best with the platform they had.” According to Baucom, Diligence does not have any authority over how emergency alerts are distributed.

Mark Johnson confirmed to The Citizen that Diligence does not play a role in emergency alert notifications.

Baucom wrote in an email to The Citizen, “In my view, we need a more cohesive, integrated program involving students, faculty, and security or law enforcement. The goal should be to identify key indicators of individuals who are struggling and may eventually resort to violence.”

A Diligence Security Officer, who was granted anonymity in accordance with The Citizen’s editorial policy, claimed that some Diligence officers still have not been informed about what happened on Nov. 13.

The officer, who was not present during the shooting, said that most of what they know about the incident is from scrolling on social media.

“[Diligence supervisors] haven’t told us anything about what happened,” they said. “They’re being so secretive about it.”

The Citizen reached out to Pridgen for comment. He said that he doesn’t know what “they have or haven’t told them” since Diligence officers report directly to their “leadership.” The Citizen reached out to a Diligence supervisor at Laney for more information about the shooting, but they declined to comment.

Aftermath

A submission to the City of Oakland public records request portal, NextRequest, shows a request from an insurance claims administrator seeking police reports “concerning Perralata [sic] Community College District’s employee, Mr. John Edward Beam, who was involved in a death/injury investigated by your agency on November, 13th 2025.”

The Citizen reached out to the administrator, John Heilman, for further information about the purpose of the public records act request. Heilman directed questions to district officials.

The portal shows additional public information requests from The Citizen, news outlets, individuals – and a Diligence official claiming to request records on behalf of Pridgen. All of the requests ask OPD for public records including video footage of the incident and official reports.

The Citizen requested public records from OPD on Nov. 14 related to the shooting, including the names of all responding officers, 911 dispatch recording, and police reports filed for incidents at Laney College and addresses connected to Irving. All records pertaining to the request are due on Feb. 16.

The Citizen examined public documents and records from the Alameda County Recorder’s Office, the Oakland Police Department, the René C. Davidson Courthouse, and the Peralta Community College District to report this story.