The San Francisco police chief says it’s still too early to say whether the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee was a random or targeted attack.
William Scott told CBS San Francisco he was “100 per cent confident” the brutal murder would be solved, and asked for patience as police continue to pursue leads in the case.
“What I will tell you is our homicide team is working tirelessly to get this to a resolution,” Chief Scott told the network.
“We have a lot that’s on our plate with this investigation and following up on things that need to be followed up on. We’ll put the information out but we don’t want to do anything to compromise this investigation,” he added.
Lee, 43, was stabbed multiple times in the chest at around 2.30am on Tuesday morning in San Francisco’s Rincon Hill neighbourhood.
Surveillance footage captured the tech executive staggering down Main St trying to flag down vehicles, before he collapsed outside the luxury Portside apartment building at 403 Main St.
Lee could be heard pleading for help on a 911 call made at 2.34am. Police arrived six minutes later, and Lee was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
In audio from a police scanner obtained by NBC Bay Area, a dispatcher can be heard relaying Lee’s 911 call to responding officers.
“There’s a male screaming ‘help,’ saying, ‘someone stabbed me’,” the police dispatcher says. “Advised he is bleeding out.”
In the days since Lee’s brutal stabbing, San Francisco residents have voiced their fear and frustration at perceived lawlessness in the city.
Many of Lee’s former friends and colleagues in Silicon Valley, including Elon Musk, have blamed San Francisco’s progressive law enforcement policies for his death.
Speaking to CBS San Francisco, Chief Scott said claims that violent crime was out of control in the city were inaccurate.
“When you look at San Francisco’s violent crime rate compared to other cities... we’re towards the bottom for major cities. That never gets talked about.”
Police crime data shows there has been 12 homicides in San Francisco so far in 2023, two more than over the same period last year.
Lee, a father of two, has been hailed as a visionary tech entrepreneur who helped create mobile phone apps used by tens of millions of people.
He led a team that developed the Cash App while working as a senior executive at Square, a digital payment firm now called Block.
Since 2021, Lee had been the chief product officer at MobileCoin.
