OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Following a violent week in the city that saw two on-campus shootings — one of them fatal — Oakland has named a new interim police chief. At a news conference Friday in which she addressed shootings at Skyline High School and Laney College, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee named Assistant Chief of Police James Beere as the city’s new interim chief.
Beere, who has been with Oakland PD since 1997, will take the helm, at least temporarily, for departing Chief Floyd Mitchell. Mitchell announced last month that he would be stepping down from the job, effective on Dec. 5.
Tributes begin to pour in for beloved Oakland football coach John Beam
Beere’s appointment as interim chief came the same day Oakland PD announced that legendary local football coach John Beam had died after being shot near the Laney College football field Thursday. A suspect, 27-year-old Cedric Irving Jr., was arrested in Beam’s shooting, which police called “targeted.”
One day before Beam was fatally shot, a 15-year-old student was shot at Skyline High. Two juveniles were arrested in that shooting, in which the victim is expected to survive…