San Francisco police have arrested a suspect within the killing of tech founder Bob Lee

Nima Momeni, 38, was taken into custody Thursday within the close by metropolis of Emeryville and charged with homicide within the stabbing of Lee, 43, on a downtown avenue in San Francisco within the early morning of April 4, police stated. A LinkedIn profile for Momeni lists him as an IT marketing consultant and entrepreneur.

San Francisco Police Chief Invoice Scott stated at a information convention that the 2 males knew one another, however declined to supply particulars on the alleged motive behind the deadly assault or how they recognized Momeni because the suspect.

Mission Native, an internet information website within the metropolis, reported that the assault adopted an argument Lee and Momeni had been having whereas driving in Momeni’s automobile and that the knife used within the assault was recovered not removed from the spot the place officers initially responded to the incident. Mission Native didn’t cite the supply of its data.

“I do know that everybody has needed solutions since this tragedy occurred,” San Francisco District Lawyer Brooke Jenkins stated on the press convention. She stated Momeni is being held with out bail and can be arraigned Friday.

Lee’s brother, Tim Oliver Lee, thanked police for “bringing this particular person to justice so rapidly” in a social media submit, as did San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents the district the place Lee was killed.

“I’m grateful to @SFPD’s Murder Element and all of the officers from @SFPDSouthern and elsewhere for his or her tireless work to carry Bob Lee’s killer to justice and for his or her arrest of a suspect this morning,” he wrote.

Lee was the primary chief know-how officer of Sq., the startup co-founded by Jack Dorsey, and now referred to as Block Inc. Whereas on the firm, he created CashApp, a cash switch software that lets customers purchase shares and Bitcoin. Earlier in his profession, he helped develop Android whereas working as a software program engineer for Google.

Momeni owns a small IT agency referred to as Broaden IT Inc. On Thursday, as information experiences circulated about his arrest, the agency’s LinkedIn web page immediately grew to become unavailable and the corporate’s web site went down. Earlier within the day, LinkedIn stated that the agency had lower than 10 workers.

His firm’s web site beforehand listed testimonials from prospects and a telephone quantity to name to request companies. Telephone calls to the quantity listed for Momeni’s IT firm went to automated traces that directed callers to voicemail. State enterprise registration information indicated his firm was primarily based in Emeryville.

Momeni lists the College of California, Berkeley on his LinkedIn profile. The college didn’t instantly reply to an inquiry as as to if Momeni attended or graduated from the college.

Momeni donated $250 to Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020, in response to OpenSecrets. In 2020, he additionally donated $250 to the Democratic Senatorial Marketing campaign Committee.