Surveillance video appears to show dying Cash App founder Bob Lee pleading for help from bystanders who ignored him.
Lee, 43, was stabbed multiple times in the torso during an apparent robbery near the upscale Portside apartments in downtown San Francisco early Tuesday, April 4.
The video shows Lee holding his side as he approached a car in a parking lot at about 2:30 am. He lifts his shirt to show the driver his wounds before collapsing to the ground, but the driver sped off, according to The San Francisco Standard.
The mortally wounded tech entrepreneur then got to his feet and stumbled down Main Street in search of help according to reporters at the newspaper, who viewed the surveillance footage.
At 2:34 a.m., Lee called 911 and repeatedly screamed for help, saying he needed an ambulance.
“Help!” he screamed into his phone. “Someone stabbed me!”
Lee retraces his steps along Main Street before collapsing again near the Portside apartment building at 403 Main St, according to The Standard.
San Francisco police arrived to find Lee unconscious in the street, suffering from numerous stab wounds. The father of two was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Standard published a photo of Portside apartment employees washing Lee’s blood off the white stucco walls of the building.
A friend said Lee was in San Francisco on a business trip and had decided to stay in the city for an extra day when he was stabbed, according to the San Francisco Standard.
“I’m still in shock,” the friend told the news outlet. “No way he did anything to provoke this and I feel like he would just hand his money and watch to a mugger.”
According to his friend and mixed martial arts champion Jake Shields, Lee was attacked while walking in the “good” part of the city. Shields tweeted that Lee may have been “targeted in a random mugging/attack.”
I just found out my good friend was killed last night while walking him in San Francisco
He was in the “good” part of the city and appeared to have been targeted in a random mugging/attack
Fuck San Francisco
— Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) April 5, 2023
Elon Musk called on San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to take a tougher stance against lawless criminals. Musk tweeted that criminals in “violent” San Francisco are immediately released when caught.
“Many people I know have been severely assaulted,” Musk tweeted on Wednesday. “Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.”
Ms Jenkins, who replaced “woke” SF prosecutor Chesa Boudin last year, tweeted her “sincerest condolences” to Mr Lee’s family and friends.
“We do not tolerate these horrific acts of violence in San Francisco,” she said.
Responding to Mr Musk, she wrote: “No one who commits a violent crime, or who’s a repeat offender are receiving overly lenient plea deals.”
Before joining MobileCoin as the chief product officer, Bob Lee worked at Google and helped develop Android, TechCrunch reported.
“Bob was a force of nature,” said MobileCoin CEO Joshua Goldbard. “I will miss him every day.”
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also confirmed Lee’s death by writing “it’s real” on the social media platform Nostr. “Getting calls. Heartbreaking. Bob was instrumental to Square and Cash App. STL guy,” Dorsey wrote.
Lee joined Square, the fintech company founded by Dorsey, as its first chief technology officer in 2010. It was there that he created Cash App.
No arrests have been made as of Wednesday morning, according to SFPD. An investigation is ongoing.
