Tech executive and investors Bob Lee, who created the mobile payment service Cash App, has been stabbed to death in San Francisco on Tuesday night, officials and co-workers said. According to San Francisco police, Lee, 43, who was the former chief technology officer of Square, was attacked at 2:35 a.m. in the city's downtown Rincon Hill district.
Lee was rushed to a nearby hospital but succumbed to his injuries a short while later, authorities said. Police have launched an investigation but no arrests have been made yet. More detail on Lee's murder is awaited. Tributes have been pouring in from all corners from the moment news of his death broke.
Shocking Death
According to reports, when police arrived at the scene, they found a 43-year-old man who had sustained several stab wounds. Lee was eventually identified as the victim by CBS News.
According to authorities, Lee was transferred to a local hospital before he succumbed to his injuries. "Officers rendered aid and summoned medics to the scene. The victim was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries," police said in a statement.
"Despite efforts by first responders and medical personnel, the victim succumbed to his injuries."
No one has been arrested in connection with Lee's death, according to police, who urged anyone with information to contact them at 415-575-4444, the SFPD tip line.
San Francisco police have not released any suspect details, the outlet added.
Bill Barhydt, the co-founder and CEO of the digital currency payment business Abra, also posted a Twitter thread on his official page announcing the tragic death of Bob Lee, the brains behind the Cash App and a former CEO of Square.
Barhydt described Lee as a "generous decent human being" who didn't deserve to be killed, he said.
"I just got devastating news that our friend Bob Lee (@crazybob ) was killed in SF early today. Bob was a dad, the former CTO of Square where he created Cash App & CTO of Mobile Coin. He was a generous decent human being who didn't deserve to be killed," he wrote.
Great Loss for Society
Others also started posting tributes the moment they learnt about Lee's tragic death.
According to his LinkedIn page, Lee had been the chief product officer of the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency business MobileCoin since November 2021.
His profile on MobileCoin's official website mentions that Lee also worked at Google during his illustrious engineering career, where he oversaw the introduction of the most popular operating system in the world and the core library team for Android.
"My heart is broken tonight," said Joshua Goldbard, the founder of cryptocurrency and payments firm MobileCoin.
"Moby was his dream: a privacy-protecting wallet for the 21st Century. I will miss him every day," Goldbard told ABC7.
Lee, later on, founded the social network platform Present and went on to make investments in businesses like Figma, Clubhouse, Beeper, and Faire.
He helped the World Health Organization with their mobile app during the Covid-19 pandemic and later contributed to the creation of an at-home testing business.
