According to authorities and family members, tech entrepreneur Bob Lee, who founded the mobile payment firm Cash App, was fatally stabbed on Tuesday morning in a wealthy San Francisco neighborhood that is part of Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s district.
According to San Francisco police, the 43-year-old father of two who once held the position of chief technology officer at Square was attacked at 2:35 a.m. in the city’s downtown Rincon Hill district.
When the police came, they discovered the victim, later identified as Lee by CBS News, suffering from numerous stab wounds. According to authorities, Lee was brought to a local hospital where he passed away from his wounds. By the time of early Wednesday, no arrests had been made. The police have not provided any information regarding a suspect.
Tech CEO Killed in Apparent Random Attack in San Francisco’s Rincon Hill
Lee’s friend and mixed martial arts champion Jake Shields stated Lee was attacked while strolling.
Shields tweeted, “He was in the ‘nice’ section of town and appears to have been targeted in a random mugging/attack.”
He then stated that Lee had left the Democrat-run city, which has been plagued by homeless people and drug addicts in recent years, because of how it has deteriorated.
“He did comment about San Francisco degrading, which is why he actually had recently migrated to Miami,” he told NewsNation.
“I’m not sure why he’s going back there [for] a little business in San Francisco for a couple of days.”
According to realtor.com, the median house price in Rincon Hill is $1.4 million. According to his LinkedIn page, Lee has been the chief product officer of the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency business MobileCoin since November 2021.
Lee was described as “a veteran member of the Bay Area software development community who had lately migrated to Florida” by the San Francisco Standard. According to a buddy of the killed CEO, he had opted to stay in the city for an extra day on this particular business trip when he was assaulted.
“I’m still in shock,” the friend said. “No way he did anything to provoke this and I feel like he would just hand his money and watch to a mugger.”
Tributes Pour in for Bob Lee, Former Square CTO, and MobileCoin CPO, After His Tragic Death
Elon Musk and other tech titans condemned the heinous stabbing. In response to Shields’ post, Musk blasted San Francisco for what he called a “violent criminal spree.” “Many people I know have been severely assaulted,” Musk tweeted. “Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.” Musk also inquired with San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins about the city was taking “stronger action to incarcerate repeat offenders.”
In a statement on the decentralized social media network Nostr, Jack Dorsey, whose company Block owns Cash App, also confirmed Lee’s death. Lee was Square’s initial chief technology officer, and the business was eventually renamed Block. Employee tributes began to flow down Tuesday night, with MobileCoin CEO Joshua Goldbard describing Lee as a “force of nature.”
“Bob was a force of nature. Helped to birth Android and CashApp into our world,” Goldbard told ABC7.
“Moby was his dream: a privacy-protecting wallet for the 21st Century. I will miss him every day.”
Lee, the father of two young girls, was recalled by Abra Global CEO Bill Barhydt as “a generous decent human being who didn’t deserve to be slain.” According to his profile on MobileCoin’s official website, Lee also worked at Google, where he headed Android’s core library team and launched the world’s most-used operating system.
Lee later launched the social network Present and invested in firms such as Figma, Clubhouse, Beeper, and Faire. Lee aided the World Health Organization with its mobile app during the COVID-19 pandemic and later helped to build an at-home testing company.
