The initial gambit by Nima Momeni's defense attorneys to move his trial from San Francisco did not pay off as the judge in the case ruled on the request for a change of venue on Friday.

Momeni's trial could finally begin sometime this year with the April 2023 murder of tech entrepreneur and CashApp founder Bob Lee. As Mission Local reports, his tentative trial date was set for May 20 on Friday – although the defense may seek further delays.

But for the change of venue motion, the judge didn't believe an impartial, home-grown jury could be assembled in San Francisco.

“Yes, he is the CashApp founder, but the court believes that killing him is the reason individuals are becoming more aware of him,” Judge Eric Fleming said, according to Mission Local.

The defense team surveyed 100 SF residents and found that while 86 percent had heard of the murder case, only 41 people agreed that Lee was a “Silicon Valley icon.” And less than a third said they had already formed an opinion about Nema Momeni based on news articles about the case.

Fleming said he thought about whether gruesome or gory details of the murder had been shared widely with the public and concluded that this case didn't really fit that description, Mission Local reports. And he added that potential jurors were equally likely to have “negative opinions and potential biases” toward the defendant, in this case being against the victim.

Bradford Cohen, who is part of the defense team recruited from Florida to defend Momeni after he apparently fired local defense attorney Paula Caney, admitted to Mission Local outside the courtroom that “we always file these motions,” referring to refers to the application for a change of jurisdiction.

While this was a defeat for the defense, they had a victory last week when Judge Fleming ruled in their favor in a request for seven years of phone records from Bob Lee's cell phones.

“The prosecution will seize both of Bob Lee’s phones for seven years because that’s when Bob Lee met Khazar Momeni – and the government maintains that relationship was legitimate,” attorney Saam Zangeneh told Mission Local.

Khazar Momeni, Nima Momeni's sister, is at the center of this case and Nema's possible motive for stabbing Lee. Lee had been in a romantic relationship of sorts with married Khazar Momeni for seven years and – having moved to Miami – was in town on business when the murder occurred.

According to evidence publicly released in previous court documents, on April 3, 2023, Lee and Khazar Momeni had spent the day together and attended a party at an individual's apartment at 1550 Mission Street. This person has been identified multiple times as Lee's friend or drug dealer, and it has been alleged that something inappropriate happened to Khazar Momeni while she was there, for which Nima Momeni may have blamed Lee.

Lee and Nima Momeni were seen on surveillance footage leaving Khazar's Millenium Tower apartment in the early hours of April 4, about 20 minutes before the stabbing occurred a few blocks away. The kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon may have come from a set in Khazar Momeni's kitchen.

Previously: Lawyers for Bob Lee murder suspect Nima Momeni want to move the trial from San Francisco

Pictured above: Nima Momeni arrives in court at the Hall of Justice on May 18, 2023 in San Francisco, California. 38-year-old technology entrepreneur Nima Momeni was charged in a San Francisco courtroom today in connection with the stabbing murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee. Momeni pleaded not guilty to a murder charge. (Photo by Paul Kuroda-Pool/Getty Images)

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• By James Clayton
• Technology reporter, San Francisco

7 April 2023

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption,

The Tenderloin district has a reputation for high drug use and crime

Bob Lee was part of the tech establishment. The former chief technical officer of Square and founder of the $40bn payment app Cash App.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, he was killed in a stabbing, in a supposedly “safe” part of San Francisco.

His death has sent a chill through the tech community.

Twitter’s former CEO, Jack Dorsey, called the killing heart-breaking.

His friend and fellow tech founder Joshua Goldbard tweeted: “Bob was like a brother to me… Bob’s energy was infectious. He made friends everywhere he went.”

Elon Musk also added his thoughts on the killing.

“Very sorry to hear that. Many people I know have been severely assaulted. Violent crime in SF is horrific.”

San Francisco has struggled with homelessness and drug deaths in recent years. In a city reliant on the tech sector, the pandemic hit its downtown more than any other in the US – it simply hasn’t been able to bounce back.

I often hear downtown being described as “dead” or “quiet”. And in certain neighbourhoods, the city can feel unsafe, something the city’s mayor has previously acknowledged.

Areas around the Tenderloin (in the heart of the city) and Soma, which stands for “South of Market” can feel dystopian, particularly at night.

Image source, Twitter/Bob Lee

Image caption,

Tributes poured in for Bob Lee

Many television crews take armed guards with them when gathering footage in the city.

And with the streets so quiet, anti-social behaviour can sometimes feel more threatening and obvious.

So far there have been 12 murders in the city. In the first three months of last year there were 10. The number of assaults is also similar.

And when you compare that to other cities, San Francisco compares relatively well. This is not Gotham City.

But the view that Elon Musk articulates, that violent crime is up, is very common.

San Francisco is a relatively small city. Its population is around 800,000. And unlike cities like Chicago, many of the “problem” neighbourhoods are interwoven throughout the central business district.

Twitter global headquarters, for example, is on Market Street, a few blocks away from the Tenderloin. Mobile payment company Block is also close by. San Francisco’s problems are out in the open – right in the heart of the city.

For its politicians, desperate to try and entice tech business back to the city, high profile killings like Mr Lee’s are devastating.

If influential tech companies decide to stay away, and people begin to leave, it could create what’s been referred to as a “doom loop”.

The city’s influential paper, The San Francisco Chronicle, has recently warned that the city could be in a negative spiral – and outlined how the city could “die”.

As companies leave, tax revenue falls. People use mass transit less until it becomes bankrupt – making it more difficult for low and middle-income workers to get to work. Labour costs rise still further, and the city has fewer funds to tackle things like crime and disorderly behaviour.

The city’s mayor responded, saying: “It’s easy to throw out dire predictions about the death of downtown. But that’s not our reality and it’s not going to happen.”

San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

It has Silicon Valley on its doorstep. It is also excellently located to take advantage of the new boom in tech – AI.

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is based in San Francisco, along with a myriad other AI tech start-ups.

The city boasts incredible talent. In many ways it has an awful lot going for it. Yet still, many people are leaving. Last year the American Housing Survey found that about 18% of San Francisco residents plan on moving in 2023. Nearly half of them said they were intending to move to a different city.

And unless San Francisco can stem that tide, it’s in trouble.

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The turmoil has given way to continuity.

The Padres do, indeed, plan to move forward with the same men running the team.

Manager Bob Melvin and President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller will continue in their posts, Preller confirmed Wednesday.

“Bob is our manager and is going to be our manager going forward,” Preller said.

This comes after a season in which the Padres underachieved on the field and the two primary decision makers navigated a frosty relationship.

Preller spoke to the media via a video conference on Wednesday morning. The reasoning for not doing a gathering in person, according to a team spokesman, was a matter of timing. The team felt it was important to have Preller speak this week, even as the Padres’ senior leadership is conducting meetings virtually all day every day. Melvin did not appear on the call with Preller due to a previously arranged travel commitment, the spokesman said.

A.J. Preller says reports of a rift between he and manager Bob Melvin have been overblown.

(Rob Leiter / MLB Photos via Getty Images)

After a meeting involving Preller and Melvin on Monday, the decision was made that they would continue to work together to move on from a disappointing and dysfunctional 2023. They plan to meet again next week to begin addressing plans for the offseason.

“A lot has been said in the last few weeks, but both he and I are very excited about the challenge of getting this group back to the postseason next year,” Preller said. “… I think just even in the last couple days, you know, you get a chance to recap and look at some different things and both of us feel really good about where things are going forward.”

The Padres finished 82-80, two games out of the National League’s final wild-card spot. They won 14 of their final 16 games to achieve just the 17th winning season in the franchise’s 55 years of existence, but it fell well short of expectations for a team with MLB’s third-highest payroll.

Additionally, a divide between Melvin and Preller that was present even in 2022 grew to a level that had to be addressed. Their communication waned, and they differed over player usage, roster construction and other philosophies. While the relationship was strained enough that several people around the situation opined they did not think it was salvageable, Preller on Wednesday called reports of the rift between he and Melvin “overblown.”

Padres Chairman Peter Seidler preferred to keep both men.

He made that clear last week to those who are running the team’s day-to-day operations while he recovers from a medical issue. And the team issued a statement from Seidler Monday morning that was intended to affirm his intentions while also pledging to undertake necessary changes to get back to the playoffs.

“What we talked about here in the last couple of days it’s ultimately about how we get this better, how we do this better,” Preller said Wednesday. “I think Bob understands that, for my job, it’s to put the roster together. I have a ton of respect for Bob and his experiences and the way he leads our team. … I think we both feel that ultimately on the big-picture items, the belief in this group, the belief in this team, what we need to do to get it going forward, I think we got a chance to kind of reaffirm that in the last few days and feel really good about where … we’re moving on.”

Manager Bob Melvin looks on during a Sept. 4 game against the Phillies.

(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Melvin, who will turn 62 this month, has one year remaining on his contract. He said when he was hired before the 2022 season that he intended to manage only through ‘24, though in the spring he left open the possibility of continuing beyond that.

He has been mentioned by multiple people around the league as a potential replacement for the fired Gabe Kapler in San Francisco. It isn’t known whether Melvin is interested in that job, or others. Melvin declined comment Wednesday.

Preller, whose contract runs through 2026, continued throughout last week and into this week conducting end-of-season business mostly as usual.

The usual roster tweaks this offseason come with some intrigue.

Multiple league and team sources have said the Padres will trim payroll this offseason, likely down to around $200 million from their current level of $253 million. That would drop them from having the third-highest payroll among the 30 MLB teams but easily keep them among the top half.

Preller on Wednesday uttered the usual platitudes regarding the idea that the team will consult with pending free agent pitchers Blake Snell and Josh Hader. But it is considered highly unlikely the team brings back the market’s top available starting pitcher and reliever.

Padres left fielder Juan Soto is likely to make $30 million or more next season.

(Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Arguably the biggest question centers on left fielder Juan Soto, who was far and away the team’s top offensive producer in 2023. He is under team control for one more season, but with his salary expected to reach at least $30 million in his final year of arbitration eligibility, the Padres have discussed the possibility of trading him this offseason.

The other possibility is signing him to a long-term contract, though the sides coming to terms on a deal that is expected to top $500 million is considered unlikely, especially a year early.

“We’ll go down that path this offseason and talk to Juan and his representatives, kind of see where things stand there,” Preller said. “What he was able to contribute, as he settled in, as the year went on, he was a consistent offensive force, one of the best in the game. And we’ll have those conversations here when we get into the offseason, kind of seeing where his head is at and figuring out if there is some common ground.”

Among the changes that could occur would be an additional voice and presence in the baseball operations department. While Preller also holds the title of general manager, adding someone in that role to work alongside him has been discussed.

“It’s something that’s been on the table, that we’ve talked about throughout different points last offseason and this year,” Preller said. “The biggest thing for myself, conversations I’ll continue to have with Peter, we just want to have as good a team, as good a leadership team as you can have. I feel good about the current group. But also, I’m always going to be open if we can add somebody that brings different experiences to the team, that can help us perform better on the field, I will always be open to that.

“We’re always talking about best practices, best ways to do things, how to be best in class. I think those are always conversations. I think obviously the first few years we were pretty realistic that we were in a rebuilding situation. And I think the marching orders (were) when we get to ‘20 we want to have a team year in year out that can contend for a World Series title. We’ve been in the playoffs a couple times and fallen short two times. We want to be there every single year. We want to be in October every year. … We’ll learn from it. If that means we’ve got to make some changes, we will.”

For now, status quo.

The post ‘We’re shifting on’: Padres protecting each Bob Melvin and A.J. Preller as they flip consideration to offseason appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

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By Marjorie Hernandez

April 7, 2023 | 6:00pm

The San Francisco neighborhood where Cash App founder Bob Lee was stabbed to death had at least 12 murders so far this year and is “severely lacking” in police presence, a top police union official told The Post.

Lee’s brutal attack was just one of four stabbing incidents which occurred earlier this week in the Democrat-run city’s Southern and Tenderloin Districts, which have been plagued with rising crime rates, said Lt. Tracy McCray, vice president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association.

“We are short staffed so just our presence in patrolling is severely lacking right now. To see a certain uptick in crime is to be expected but I think we are now at a precipice where we could go one way or the other,” McCray said.

Lee, 43, was stabbed multiple times in the chest early Tuesday morning at about 2:35 a.m. as he walked in the city’s posh Rincon Hill neighborhood, which is in the Southern District and near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Bob Lee, the 43-year-old father and founder of Cash App was stabbed several times, according to San Francisco Police officials. Bob Lee/Facebook

Chilling 911 audio revealed Lee screamed for help as he bled out on the street in front of a residential building called the Portside at the 300 block of Main Street.

Video footage showed the tech mogul holding his cell phone and desperately flagging down passing cars before collapsing.

No arrests have been made and San Francisco Police have yet to release a description of possible suspects.

“We have not released any video surveillance or photos so we can’t confirm or comment on any images or videos at this point,” said Allison Maxie, spokeswoman for SFPD, told The Post on Friday.

According to police statistics, robbery in the Southern District, which includes Rincon Hill, has increased by about 14 percent compared to last year. From January to April 2, there have been 12 homicides in the area.

A pedestrian walks across the street from the building where Bob Lee was fatally stabbed on April 6, 2023.AP

Flowers sit at a tree in front of the building where a technology executive Bob Lee was fatally stabbed. AP

Violent crimes also saw an uptick of 7.5% over the past three years throughout San Francisco, while property crime has exploded to 20.7% over the past three years, according to crime stats.

While overall violent crime fell 13.6% from 2019 to 2022, homicides rose 36.6%, from 41 to 56 in the city of 815,000.

San Francisco’s rising crime rates helped fuel last year’s recall efforts against progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was ousted over his soft-on-crime policies.

Locals said the Rincon area where Lee was killed boasts multimillion dollar high rise apartments where tech industry moguls, celebrities and members of the Golden State Warriors basketball team have been known to live. 

Although the neighborhood is usually quiet, they fear residents and visitors could easily become victims.

“You see people around here with really nice cars and dress really well, and they could be a target,” a local told The Post. “When I heard what happened to him [Lee], the first thing that came to my head was, ‘What would he be doing here around that time?’ You do see people from all walks of life around here but what was a super wealthy person like him doing wandering the streets like that? It doesn’t make sense.”

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Whole Foods opened a store in San Francisco, US, in March 2022, but months later reduced its hours after “grand theft” — the closure came just weeks after Cash App founder and tech superstar Bob Lee was killed in the city

Whole Foods has closed its store after admitting employees were unsafe in the city (whole food market)

Whole Foods has closed its San Francisco store because the company “cannot ensure the safety of employees” days after tech mogul Bob Lee was stabbed to death.

The popular supermarket chain had opened a flagship store in March 2022, but just months later the store reduced its hours in San Francisco, California, amid rising drug problems and “frequent thefts”.

The store experienced hostile customers and store managers were forced to restrict use of the toilets to customers after used syringes and tubes were found on the floor in November.

Local shopper Allyn Mejia said she wasn’t surprised the company had raised concerns about employees after security guards burst into the store to deal with unruly customers.

She told Newsweek, “I saw security rush into the store very quickly before anything happened.”

Tech mogul Bob Lee was attacked in San Francisco

San Francisco District Manager Matt Dorsey said he was “incredibly disappointed but sadly not surprised” by the closure of Whole Foods.

“Our neighborhood has been waiting for this supermarket for a long time, but we’re also aware of the problems they’ve had with retail drug thefts, adjacent drug markets and the many security issues that come with it,” he said.

A Whole Foods Market spokesman told the San Francisco Standard that the closure may be temporary.

A homeless man is seen in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco(Agency Anadolu via Getty Images)

It said: “We are only closing our Trinity location for the time being. When we feel we can ensure the safety of our team members in store, we will consider reopening our Trinity location.”

The decision to close the store came after Cash App founder Bob Lee died in San Francisco on April 4 after being stabbed twice in the chest.

His death sparked an outcry from tech leaders like Elon Musk and revealed fears of a deepening drug and crime crisis in San Francisco, a well-known tech hub.

Homeless people are seen in San Francisco(Agency Anadolu via Getty Images)

According to the victim’s friend, the tech boss himself had moved out of the California city because he feared things were “getting worse.”

And Mr Musk said he was “very sorry” to hear about Mr Lee’s death, before criticizing what he saw as a crime out of control.

He tweeted: “A lot of people I know have been badly attacked. Violent crimes in SF are horrific, and even when attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.”

The city has a high crime and drug rate (Agency Anadolu via Getty Images)

The billionaire called San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jennings and asked, “Is the city taking stricter measures to incarcerate repeat offenders?”

Matt Ocko, a technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist from Palo Alto, California, tweeted that the leaders of “lawless” San Francisco had “literally blood on their hands” from Mr Lee following the recent raid on the city.

A huge homeless camp in California(Agency Anadolu via Getty Images)

The 43-year-old was visiting San Francisco after returning from Miami for a “quick visit” after planning to stay an extra day, according to friends.

CCTV footage showed Mr Lee walking down an empty San Francisco street in the early hours of the morning, lifting his shirt to show a driver his wounds before driving away.

In disturbing footage from a local newspaper, he was seen begging a driver: “Help. Someone stabbed me.”

Flowers and cards were left near the Portside apartment building in San Francisco, California where Bob Lee was tragically stabbed(Agency Anadolu via Getty Images)

According to reports, Mr Lee can be seen on CCTV running towards the Bay Bridge before falling to the ground in front of a residential building around 2.30am.

Police found the engineering chief unconscious before taking him to the hospital, where he tragically died from his injuries.

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By Jen Smith, Chief Reporter for Dailymail.Com

15:49 11 Apr 2023, updated 18:07 13 Apr 2023

• Mayor Breed has come under fire since the brutal murder and separate attack
• San Francisco is still short of 500 police officers to meet the need
• Whole Foods this week closed its flagship store in downtown San Francisco due to widespread drug use, theft and violent behavior towards employees

Amid mounting criticism of escalating crime in her city, San Francisco Mayor London Breed has urged people not to jump to conclusions about the high-profile murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee and a separate attack on a former fire commissioner.

Lee was stabbed to death while visiting San Francisco last week. The police have not released any information about his death, nor have they made any arrests.

A day after his brutal murder, former fire commissioner Don Carmignani was beaten by Garett Doty outside his mother’s house. Doty’s attorney claims Carmignani pepper sprayed him first, provoking the attack.

Carmignani has since appealed to Breed to make policy changes to make the city safer.

Instead of heeding those calls, she defended the city on Saturday, even appearing to imply that the incidents were not examples of senseless crime.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has urged people not to jump to conclusions about the high-profile murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee and another attack on a former fire commissioner. Cash App founder Bob Lee was stabbed to death last Tuesday. Former fire commissioner Don Carmignani was attacked outside his mother’s house

“I would like to start by clarifying that the information in both cases is not yet public and that it is being investigated.”

“When some facts about many of these cases come out, people will be surprised,” Breed told ABC News, without giving further details.

She also claimed that social media, where many had complained about the state of the city, was exacerbating the problem.

“It’s really aggravated events like this and people jumping to conclusions about what they think is happening.”

Neither Lee’s family nor Carmignani have yet responded to her comments.

Disturbing cellphone footage shared via a local neighborhood app shows a man wandering the local area with a metal crowbar in hand

According to Breed’s office, the San Francisco Police Department is still short of 500 officers to keep the city safe.

The city is now providing an additional $25 million to cover overtime pay for officers still on the job.

Breed claimed on Saturday that this would be enough to ease the crisis.

Democratic city manager Joel Engardino is among those urging the mayor to do more.

“For a city our size, we’re short of more than 500 civil servants.” Hundreds more civil servants may retire in June, and many will. The last police academy graduated 12 new officers. The current academy has only eight cadets.

Lee, seen with his children, was visiting San Francisco from Miami when he was attacked

“It’s not enough if we’re missing 500. That shows me that more money is not the only solution.” Yes, we need this overtime funding.

“But we need to talk about the real reason we have a police staffing crisis — because too few people want to be police officers anymore,” he said in a recent statement.

Harrowing surveillance footage shows Lee stumbling through the city streets after being stabbed to death around 2:30 a.m.

The father and technology investor was visiting from Miami, where he now lives.

He died in hospital after suffering at least two stab wounds, but little else is known about his killing.

The video – first revealed by DailyMail.com – showed him begging a taxi driver for help and stumbling around outside an apartment building.

Meanwhile, one of downtown San Francisco’s largest supermarkets was forced to close just a year after it opened due to widespread drug use, theft and aggressive behavior towards employees.

Organic food giant Whole Foods opened a new “flagship” location on Trinity Place in the city’s Tenderloin area in March 2022, hoping to revive visitor numbers after two years of draconian COVID restrictions have severely impacted businesses in the area had.

But a spokesman for Whole Foods said the store was closed last night due to staff safety concerns.

“We are only closing our Trinity location for now,” the spokesman said in a statement. “If we feel we can ensure the safety of our team members in store, we will consider reopening our Trinity location.”

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Bob Lee. (mobile coin)

By Cheri Mossburg, Josh Campbell and Brad Parks | CNN

The stabbed death of CashApp founder Bob Lee has prompted comments that perpetuate the notion that San Francisco is dangerous and crime-ridden, yet data shows that violent crime — particularly homicides — is well below that of many other similar-sized cities.

George Tita, a professor of criminal justice at the University of California, Irvine, believes perception has more to do with the profile of those involved in specific crimes than actual data.

“If a very well-known technician is murdered, it’s just going to draw more attention than if it’s an impoverished person in a colored neighborhood,” Tita said. “It’s just a low-hanging fruit. Nobody wants to look at actual statistics. Most of the states and counties with the highest crime statistics are in the red states versus the blue states.”

Lee died after a knife attack in the Rincon Hill neighborhood. Police officers responded to reports of a stabbing early Tuesday morning, according to a statement from the San Francisco Police Department. They found “a 43-year-old adult male victim who appeared to be suffering from stab wounds.”

“Officials rendered assistance and called paramedics to the scene,” the police statement said. “The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Despite the best efforts of first responders and medical staff, the victim succumbed to his injuries.”

According to police, San Francisco recorded 56 homicides in both 2022 and 2021, an increase of over 36% from 2019 when there were 41 homicides. Despite the increase, San Francisco’s homicide toll is well below other cities of a similar size, data from the Major Cities Police Chiefs Association shows.

For example, Indianapolis had 271 homicides in 2021 and 226 in 2022. Jacksonville, Florida had 129 homicides in 2021 and 154 in 2022, while Columbus, Ohio had 204 in 2021 murders and 140 murders in 2022.

According to the California Department of Justice, violent crimes in San Francisco, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, peaked in 2013 at 7,164 violent crimes. But they have declined significantly in recent years. According to data from the Major Cities Police Chiefs Association, San Francisco now ranks in the lower midfield compared to several cities with similar populations.

However, property crime in San Francisco tells a different story, as seen in several attention-grabbing videos. Though still well below 2017 levels, the city saw a 23% increase in property crime between 2020 and 2022, with an increase in burglaries and theft leading the way, according to data from the San Francisco PD.

“People who believe that housing is bad and that crime is always on the rise believe it because of their worldview and dogma and not because of facts,” Tita said. “All we can do is provide unbiased, carefully compiled data. At the end of the day, there are some people who don’t care about the facts.”

San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said the number of homicides had been falling before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic but had risen in the months that followed, in line with a nationwide trend, CNN affiliate KPIX reported.

“If you look at the violent crime rate in San Francisco compared to other cities per 100,000 (in population), we’re at the bottom end of the big cities,” Scott told KPIX. “It’s never talked about.

“We have our problems with our city,” he continued. “There are some things we really need to keep working on. We have these pictures that are going viral and being posted all over the world and that are about drug use and homelessness. These are real problems in our city and we are tackling them. But violent crime? We are not that city.”

The CNN Wire
& © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery company. All rights reserved.

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• Bob Lee, the inventor of the Cash App, was fatally stabbed in San Francisco earlier this week.
• His friend Jake Shields told NewsNation that Lee recently moved to Miami.
• Lee moved out of San Francisco because he felt it was unsafe, Shields added.

Bob Lee, the inventor of the Cash App, moved out of San Francisco because he believed the city was “decaying” just before he was fatally stabbed, a friend told NewsNation on Wednesday.

Jake Shields, a former mixed martial artist, told the outlet that he used to live in the area where Lee was attacked but eventually moved because he no longer felt safe there.

“[Lee] “I was commenting on San Francisco’s deterioration, which is actually why he just moved to Miami,” Shields told the outlet.

“It wasn’t the only reason, but it was a reason,” Shields told Insider. “I can’t remember the exact words he used and I want to be careful when I put words in a dead man’s mouth, but he was extremely happy with it.” Miami felt a lot cleaner and safer.”

According to an NBC Bay Area report, Lee died after being stabbed early Tuesday morning while walking near Rincon Hill and the Bay Bridge.

Few details have emerged about the circumstances of the attack and police have not yet identified anyone or announced any arrests in connection with the incident.

The tech mogul sold his multimillion-dollar home in the San Francisco area in July last year, according to real estate records verified by the New York Post.

Insider has not been able to independently verify when Lee left town and whether or not he was in San Francisco on business.

Shields told NewsNation the attack was a “pointless act of violence in San Francisco,” adding that the city has had “problems” for some time.

“But anyone who’s been at this for a long time knows it’s only going to get worse,” Shields added. “People talk and say they will do things, but nobody does anything.”

Lee’s death reignited a long-running debate about crime in San Francisco.

Last year, San Francisco’s violent crime rate, which includes murders, rapes, assaults and robberies, was 647 per 100,000 people, according to the San Francisco Police Department. This is an increase from 550 in 2020 and 603 in 2021, but lower than the pre-pandemic figure of 696 in 2019.

Several other friends and colleagues of Lee have criticized crime in the city and urged San Francisco Mayor London Breed to take more action.

Twitter owner Elon Musk also weighed in on the debate, tweeting on Wednesday: “Many people I know have been severely attacked. Violent crimes in SF are horrendous and even when attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.” He did not cite any sources to support the claim.

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Tech entrepreneur and CashApp founder Bob Lee. (From Twitter via CNN)

By Catherine Thorbecke | CNN

Bob Lee, Square’s former chief technology officer who helped launch the Cash App, has died in San Francisco after an apparent knife attack.

Lee’s death was confirmed by Josh Goldbard, the CEO of his current employer, MobileCoin. Lee joined MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency and digital payments startup, in 2021 as Chief Product Officer.

“Our dear friend and colleague Bob Lee passed away yesterday at the age of 43, leaving behind a loving family and a band of close friends and associates,” Goldbard said in a statement to CNN on Wednesday morning. “Bob was a dynamo, a force of nature. Bob was the real article. He was created for the world that is being born, he was a child of dreams and whatever he imagined, no matter how crazy, he accomplished.”

Goldbard continued, “We will miss you, Bob. We love you.”

Rick Lee, Bob’s father, also confirmed the news in a statement on Facebook, writing, “I just lost my best friend.” The father said his son “lost his life on the street in San Francisco early Tuesday.”

“Bob would give you the shirt off his back,” the father wrote. “He never looked down on anyone and had a strong philosophy of non-judgment.”

Rick Lee added that his son “will be missed by everyone who knew him” and thanked those who reached out and offered support.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed also issued a statement Wednesday, calling Lee’s death “a terrible tragedy.” Breed said police are still investigating Lee’s death and will provide more details soon.

According to an earlier statement from the San Francisco Police Department, officials were responding to reports of a stabbing early Tuesday morning in the Rincon neighborhood of San Francisco, where they found “a 43-year-old adult male victim who appeared to be suffering from stab wounds.” ”

“Officials provided assistance and called paramedics to the scene of the accident. The victim was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. Despite the efforts of first responders and medical personnel, the victim succumbed to his injuries,” the police statement said.

Several local news organizations quoted unnamed police sources as saying Lee was the victim of the stabbing. Police said no arrests had been made and investigations were ongoing.

San Francisco has grappled with an apparent spike in crime while still trying to recover from the pandemic. Preliminary police data reports 12 homicides in San Francisco this year, up 20% from the same period last year. Overall, there were 56 homicides in San Francisco in 2022, which is exactly the same number of homicides the city recorded in 2021.

While Goldbard did not specify the circumstances of Lee’s death in his statement, he wrote in a separate Twitter thread in response to the news, “As a lifelong Bay Area resident, I have more questions than answers tonight.”

“I don’t know how to fix this, but I know something isn’t working in our gray city. Bob left this world too soon,” Goldbard wrote on Twitter.

outbreak of grief

Many others in the tech world and beyond reacted to the news of Lee’s death with outbursts of shock and sadness.

“It’s so hard to believe he’s gone,” Figma CEO Dylan Field wrote in a tweet, recalling first meeting Lee in 2006.

Launchpad Capital tech investor Ryan Gilbert tweeted that Lee was “one of a kind,” adding, “May his memory be a blessing.”

And mixed martial artist Jake Shields remembered Lee as a “loyal friend” in a tweet, writing, “RIP bro.”

Shields’ tweet caught the attention of new Twitter owner Elon Musk, who included himself by saying, “Violent crimes in SF are horrendous and even when attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.” Musk tagged the District Attorney of in his tweet San Francisco, Brooke Jenkins.

Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Square (now called Block), responded to the news with a post on decentralized social media app Nostr early Wednesday. “Heartbreaking,” Dorsey wrote. “Bob was instrumental in both Square and Cash App.”

Lee was Square’s first chief technology officer. Before joining Square, Lee was at Google, where he led the team that brought Android to market.

The CNN Wire
& © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery company. All rights reserved.

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Bob Myers can no longer devote all his energies to managing the Golden State Warriors, and that’s why he’s ready to step down as one of the most successful professional sports managers of all time.

“It’s tough, it’s tough. I have so many different things, emotions that I’m still processing,” Myers said, fighting back tears at his announcement on Tuesday. “But the bottom line is that this job that I do requires, and I would say for any professional general manager or coach, that requires total commitment, total effort, 1000%. If you can’t, you shouldn’t be doing it. That is the answer to the question of why.

“…It doesn’t feel right to do something if I can’t give it my all, and that’s what it takes to do what we’ve been doing for the last 12 years.”

Myers is stepping down as President of Basketball Operations and General Manager of Golden State after building a championship team that has won four titles in eight years and made five straight NBA Finals from 2015-2019. He announced his decision to owner Joe Lacob on Tuesday morning.

But basketball is still in Myers’ blood, and the thrill of competition is so ingrained in him that he’s certainly not finished in the business — even if he’s not quite sure what’s next. He knows there will be a huge gap on game day and every other day in between.

He will miss Stephen Curry’s warm-up routine, his close friendship with coach Steve Kerr and all the special playoff runs they experienced together, noting, “I’m proud of what I’ve done and proud of what we’ve done have.”

Myers’ contract, one of the most successful GMs in all sports of the last decade, expires on June 30 and speculation about his future has raged for months as the two sides have yet to agree on an extension or a new contract. Myers added of his decision, “This wasn’t about money, I just want to be clear, it’s not about money, I’m making a lot of money, I’ve been offered a lot of money.”

Growing up in suburban Danville, 48-year-old Myers attended Warriors games on his birthday, played basketball at UCLA and learned important skills on the other side of the business becoming an agent before switching careers and going to the Top NBA managers rise. He did so with a personable manner, regularly attending practice sessions to chat with players, staff, Kerr and his assistants.

Lacob followed a tip from Danny Ainge to consider the unproven Myers, and after months of interviewing other candidates, Lacob realized how much he really liked Myers despite his inexperience. Myers then served as assistant GM under Larry Riley for a year before being promoted a year later.

Kerr has loved working with Myers in a collaborative manner, which can be unusual in professional sports between a front office and a head coach.

“He’s an amazing coach, he’s a top-notch Hall of Famer coach of all time,” Myers said. “One can live a lifetime without meeting such people and without forming such friendships. This is very rare, most GMs and trainers don’t like each other and I can understand why. It’s pretty much designed to fail.”

Myers has been known to talk to players during games, which is rare for a GM. That included working at times to calm down hot-tempered striker Draymond Green.

He has long supported Green through his mistakes, technical fouls and suspensions. In 2016, Green was suspended for a crucial Game 5 loss to LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals after committing too many obvious fouls in the playoffs that season. The Warriors lost in seven games. Myers was seated with Green next to the Oracle Arena at Oakland Coliseum when Green missed the game.

It was Myers who, just a few months later, signed eventual two-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant, who played for Golden State from 2016-19 and helped the Warriors win repeat championships in 2017 and 2018.

“We’re definitely going to win, I don’t care about the rules,” said Lacob, who is looking to get as much out of Myers as possible in the final month of the GM.

Lacob’s son Kirk and Mike Dunleavy Jr. are potential internal replacements for Myers, who will help in an assisting role in the upcoming NBA draft.

“There’s a good chance it’s an internal candidate,” Lacob said of filling the position.

Spurs manager Gregg Popovich in March commended good friends Kerr and Myers for their commitment to attracting players who come first as a team and don’t just want to focus on individual success.

“He and Bob brought people who can understand that,” Popovich said. “Not every player can play this game, they just can’t. But they brought in people who understand and will play their part to win, to win big.”

Myers spoke to the players and heard from Durant – in Monaco – and will always appreciate the relationships, which aren’t always so amicable everywhere. Myers said that I would watch and work with superstars Curry, Green, Klay Thompson and Durant: “I would do that for free.”

After becoming a GM in 2012, Myers built the roster that won the championship in 2015, the franchise’s first title in 40 years. As a father of three daughters, he might become a fan again, which he says is a lot easier than doing his job.

“This team is in great shape,” Myers said, “great shape.”

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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