CBS News Bay Area: Violent death of Cash App founder, MobileCoin CPO Bob Lee
SAN FRANCISCO -- The early morning murder of Cash App founder, MobileCoin CPO Bob Lee as he walked on a San Francisco street has triggered an intense debate over safety in the city.
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The city's medical examiner's office had not yet identified the as of Tuesday evening, but friends and co-workers of Lee told KPIX he was the victim. Early Wednesday morning, MobileCoin confirmed the death of the 43-year-old Lee, who was the Chief Product Officer of San Francisco-based cryptocurrency startup.
Lee had moved to Miami late last year but was in town for the MobileCoin leadership summit last week, and was staying a few nights extra to see friends.
San Francisco has been grappling with an apparent uptick in crime as it still attempts to bounce back from the pandemic. Preliminary police data reports 12 homicides in San Francisco this year, an uptick of 20% compared to the same time period in the previous year. In total, there were 56 homicides in San Francisco in 2022, which is the exact same number of homicides the city saw in 2021.
"The homicide of Bob Lee is a horrible tragedy and my sympathies go out to his family and friends. The Police are actively investigating what happened and will share details as soon as they can," said Mayor London Breed in a statement. "San Francisco is prioritizing public safety, including recently passing our budget supplemental so we have the police staffing necessary to have more police officers in our neighborhoods and to investigate violent crimes when they do occur. I'm confident that when the Police make an arrest in cases like this, our District Attorney will do what's necessary to hold any individuals accountable for their actions."
Mixed martial arts fighter Jake Shields remembered Lee as a "loyal friend" in a tweet, writing, "RIP brother."
Shields' tweet garnered the attention of Twitter's new owner Elon Musk, who chimed in to say, "Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately." Musk tagged San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins in his tweet.