‘We’re going to smoke you’: Weeks after John Beam’s killing, another Oakland coach is targeted for murder, police say

OAKLAND — A coach at Elmhurst Middle School was standing on campus during a break when two men pulled up in a Chevrolet Tahoe, wearing ski masks, and jumped out of the car, according to police.

“You got my cousin jumped,” one of them allegedly told the man. “We’re going to smoke you.”

A month later, on Dec. 15, one of the men made good on his threats, police said. The coach was walking on 98th Avenue during the day when a man pulled up in, asked the coach if he worked at Elmhurst, then opened fire twice. Both shots missed the coach, who called police after the gunman’s Chevrolet Tahoe sped off.

Now, authorities have identified the suspected gunman as Carlos Lozano, 30, a San Leandro resident who has now been charged with attempted murder, assault with a firearm, gun possession as a felon, committing a hit and run while attempting to drive away from the scene, and with making the original threat against the coach on Nov. 18, at the middle school. Lozano, who remains jailed without bail, has also been charged with having a gun in his car when police arrested him at a San Leandro gas station on Dec. 29, court records show.

The shooting occurred barely a month after John Beam, the beloved Laney College football coach who appeared on the Netflix show “Last Chance U,” was gunned down in a similar targeted shooting, also related to his job. The suspect in Beam’s killing, a former student, allegedly came to campus with a gun he’d bought online for the sole purpose of killing Beam, who he later accused of “witchcraft,” and “haunting his dreams,” authorities said in court filings.

Irving was arrested with the suspected murder weapon a day after Beam was shot, and is being held at Santa Rita Jail without bail, court records show. Beam had complained of lax security at the university, which officials say they’re working to improve in light of his death.

At Elmhurst, the coach — who also works as a substitute teacher at the school — reported the death threat to police. The school’s principal identified a possible suspect, whose daughter had gotten into a physical altercation with another student, as one of the suspects. That man was arrested, along with Lozano, in an unrelated drug and gun possession investigation later that same day. But both men were subsequently released, according to court records.

Immediately after the school, Lozano allegedly crashed the Chevrolet Tahoe into another vehicle, injuring the motorist, and ultimately leading to the hit and run charge. The car was impounded by police, but stolen from an impound lot on Dec. 23, authorities said.

Police say that on Christmas Eve, they found a shell casing used to shoot at the coach, which had been gathered and hidden next to a tree by an eyewitness. The witness told investigators he watched officers on the crime scene gather evidence, but fail to notice the casing, so he placed it next to the tree and made the call to OPD.

Lozano has four prior convictions since 2013, including for evading police, committing a burglary, possessing a concealed weapon, and shooting up a house, court records show.