The founder of multibillion-dollar tech company Cash App, Bob Lee, was seriously stabbed near San Francisco city centre on Tuesday, (4 Apri 2023) his family has said.
A 43-year-old man was found by police with stab wounds; after being treated, he eventually passed away in the hospital.
His father, Rick Lee, who was also the former chief technology officer of Square, confirmed his son’s death.
Officials in San Francisco have come under fire for how they handled a recent spike in violent crime.
According to the most recent crime statistics, the city is among the most hazardous in the Nation.
On Tuesday at about 02:35 local time, police officers responded to reports of the stabbing (10:35 BST).
The San Francisco Standard has seen CCTV footage of Mr. Lee strolling down a desolate alleyway and appearing to be asking for assistance.
Mr. Lee is shown stumbling toward a parked car, where he lifts up his shirt to disclose his injury, but the automobile drives off before the tech mogul hits the pavement.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, when police discovered Mr. Lee in the Rincon Hill neighborhood unconscious and suffering from two stab wounds to the chest, they immediately began first aiding him before sending him to the hospital.
Filled with grave, Mr Lee’s father posted a message on his Facebook on Wednesday (5 April 2023) saying: “I just lost my best friend, my son Bob Lee when he lost his life on the street in San Francisco early Tuesday morning.”
According to CBS News report, Mr. Lee was a resident of Miami, Florida, but was visiting San Francisco for a leadership summit and staying on to see a couple of friends.
Tim Oliver Lee, Mr Lee’s brother, also showed his bitterness when he posted on Facebook: “He really was the best of us. I was so fortunate to grow up with him, and I feel like I’ve lost part of myself.”
Mr. Lee was serving as MobileCoin’s chief product officer at the time of his death.
“He was a generous decent human being who didn’t deserve to be killed,” said Bill Barhydt, CEO of Abra, a cryptocurrency company, on Twitter, noting that Mr Lee also was a father.
According to Forbes, Cash App, a smartphone-based payment service that enables person-to-person money transactions, is now valued at $40 billion (£32 billion).
Its user base has grown rapidly since its introduction in 2013, reaching seven million monthly active users in 2017 and rising to 30 million in 2020.
Since Mr. Lee’s passing, the violent crime in the Californian city has come under fresh fire.
Elon Musk in responds to Mr. Lee tributes says: “Violent crime in (San Francisco) is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.”
According to data from 2021, the city is more unsafe than 98% of US communities, with people having a 1-in-16 risk of becoming a victim of violent or property crime each year, according to the Hoover Institution, a policy research think tank.
Since the epidemic, homicides have been a particular problem in San Francisco.
In 2021 and 2022, there were 56 homicides in the city. According to early police data, 12 homicides have been reported in San Francisco so far this year.
In this case, San Francisco police have not yet named a suspect, and the investigation is still underway.
San Francisco district attorney, Brooke Jenkins, tweeted in his words, he wrote “we do not tolerate these horrific acts of violence in San Francisco”.
London Breed, San Francisco Mayor said in a statement that “the homicide of Bob Lee is a horrible tragedy” and sought to assure residents the city was “prioritising public safety”.
