[Kat Wilcox, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons]

Tech Innovator Murdered On The Street In San Francisco

One of America’s top innovators was brutally murdered earlier in the week. CNBC reported, “Bob Lee, a technology executive who founded the mobile payment company Cash App and previously worked at Square, died Tuesday after he was stabbed near downtown San Francisco, according to his family.

San Francisco police said officers responded to a report of a stabbing around 2:35 a.m. Tuesday. The officers found a 43-year-old man with apparent stab wounds. He was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries and died later, police said.”

“Prominent venture capitalist Ron Conway, founder of the San Francisco-based investment firm SV Angel, tweeted Wednesday that Lee’s loss was an immense tragedy,” NPR noted.

‘Deepest condolences to Bob’s family and to the entire tech community,” Conway said. “Remembering fondly when Bob gave an inspiring talk at our CEO Summit. We’ve lost a great innovator, intelligence, and spirit. Praying a suspect is apprehended swiftly.'”

Lee played an essential role in developing Google’s Android products as an engineer at the company and served as the first CTO of Square before creating Cash App, a mobile phone app that allows people to transfer money to each other. The app has been reported to have nearly 70 million users. He was also a large investor in SpaceX.

Twitter CEO and owner of SpaceX Elon Musk slammed what he described as an ongoing spree of “violent crime” in San Francisco.

“According to an earlier statement from the San Francisco Police Department,” CNN wrote, “officers responded to the report of a stabbing early Tuesday morning in the Rincon area of San Francisco, where they found “a 43-year-old adult male victim suffering from apparent stab wounds.”

‘Officers rendered aid and summoned medics to the scene. The victim was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. Despite efforts by first responders and medical personnel, the victim succumbed to his injuries,’ the police statement said.

Multiple local news organizations cited unnamed police sources saying Lee was the victim of the stabbing. Police indicated no arrests have been made and that the investigation remains active.

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.”

Bob Lee had two children.

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