Jason Miles
A self-described tech entrepreneur has been detained by police in connection with the deadly stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco.
Nima Momeni, a 38-year-old resident of Emeryville, California, is the suspect. According to investigators, Mr. Momeni and Mr. Lee were acquainted.
Mr. Momeni is a technology consultant and start-up owner, says his LinkedIn page.
On April 4, police discovered Mr. Lee, 43, who had been stabbed and was unconscious.
He succumbed to his wounds at the hospital.
William Scott, the chief of the San Francisco Police Department, revealed Mr. Momeni’s arrest at a news conference on Thursday and said that the suspect knew Mr. Lee.
Chief Scott reported that Mr. Momeni was now being held at the San Francisco County Jail after being charged with homicide.
He didn’t go into detail about how Mr. Lee and the suspect were acquainted.
The prosecution wants to detain Mr. Momeni without bail. On Friday, there will be an arraignment hearing.
Despite the arrest, Chief Scott stated that the “case is not closed” and that Mr. Lee’s death is still under investigation.
When the arrest was originally announced, Mission Local, a local news source, it was revealed that the suspect is a member of the tech sector.
According to the article, which cited police sources, Mr. Lee and the suspect got into a car together and got into a fight before Mr. Lee was stabbed.
Around 02:35 local time (09:35 GMT) on April 4, police officers reacted to reports of the stabbing for the first time.
The San Francisco Standard has seen surveillance footage that appears to show Mr. Lee wandering down a deserted alleyway in search of assistance.
The internet entrepreneur can be seen stumbling towards a parked car while raising up his shirt to reveal his wound, but the automobile drives off before the man hits the ground.
With two stab wounds to his chest, Mr. Lee was found unconscious by police in the Rincon Hill community. They began first aid treatment before taking him to the hospital.
He served as MobileCoin’s chief product officer and worked in the cryptocurrency industry.
Additionally, Mr. Lee is credited with creating Cash App, a smartphone-based platform that enables money transfers between individuals. According to Forbes, the app is well-liked in the US and is valued $40 billion (£32 billion).
People in the US technology business paid him a lot of accolades after his passing.
It also sparked disapproval of San Francisco’s government’s response to the high rate of violent crime in the city.
Brooke Jenkins, the district attorney for San Francisco, responded to the criticism during a news conference on Thursday by stating that both her office and the police had “worked tirelessly” to solve Mr Lee’s case and others.
She also criticised people who made “reckless and irresponsible” claims about how Mr. Lee’s murder affected public safety in San Francisco.
After Mr. Lee was stabbed, Elon Musk tweeted that “violent crime in San Francisco is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.” Ms. Jenkins expressly named Elon Musk by name.
She claimed that the tweet “assumed incorrect circumstances about Mr. Lee’s death served to mislead the world in their perceptions of San Francisco”.
According to police records, San Francisco’s murder rate appears to be pretty stable. Both the previous year and the year before, there were 56 homicides. This year, the city appears to be on track for a similar homicide rate.
The Sam Francisco Chronicle reports that the city has lower-than-average rates of violent crime when compared to other US cities, but exceptionally high rates of property crime, including as theft and burglary.
