…Researched and contributed by Solomon Thomas.
Nima Momeni, owner of the IT company Expand IT, has been taken into police custody on suspicion of the murder of Bob Lee, the founder of CashApp.
Lee was stabbed in the early hours of April 4 in the Rincon Hill neighbourhood of San Francisco.
The motive for the attack is currently unknown, and the two men are reported to have been driving together through downtown San Francisco at the time of the incident.
Lee, also the chief product officer of cryptocurrency firm MobileCoin, was found with multiple stab wounds near a high-rise building.
Security footage from the night of the attack showed passers-by ignoring him as he lay injured.
Lee had called 911 himself after the attack, but was unconscious by the time the police arrived.
He was transported to hospital but died shortly afterwards.
Lee, who had two young daughters, was known as “Crazy Bob” to friends and had been an early investor in several major tech firms.
MMA fighter Jake Shields, a friend of Lee, broke the news of his death on Twitter and suggested Lee had been targeted in a random mugging or attack.
Elon Musk also responded to Shields’ tweet, saying that violent crime in San Francisco was “horrific” and attackers were often released immediately.
Commentary:
The arrest of Nima Momeni in connection with the murder of Bob Lee will likely bring some closure to Lee’s family and friends, as well as to the tech industry as a whole.
Lee was a well-known figure in the sector, having invested early in several major firms.
His murder shocked the industry, particularly as it appeared that passers-by had ignored him as he lay injured.
The motive for the attack is still unclear, and it is not yet known whether Momeni and Lee had any prior connection beyond a professional one.
The arrest also highlights the issue of violent crime in San Francisco, which has been a concern for some time.
The city has seen an increase in incidents in recent years, leading some to call for more action to be taken to address the problem.