$a = array(
array(
'id' => 5698,
'first_name' => 'Bill',
'last_name' => 'Gates',
),
array(
'id' => 4767,
'first_name' => 'Steve',
'last_name' => 'Jobs',
),
array(
'id' => 3809,
'first_name' => 'Mark',
'last_name' => 'Zuckerberg',
)
);
$last_names = array_column($a, 'last_name');
print_r($last_names);