The San Francisco Police Department on Thursday arrested Nima Momeni, 38, of Emeryville, Calif., for allegedly stabbing to death tech executive Bob Lee.
Mission Local, an independent local news site, first reported the arrest.
City officials held a press conference Thursday afternoon, saying that the arrest occurred earlier in Emeryville, some 11 miles east of San Francisco, without incident.
Momeni is being held at the county jail without bail on a murder charge. He’s scheduled to be arraigned on Friday afternoon.
“We can confirm that Mr Lee and Mr. Momeni knew each other,” Police Chief Bill Scott said. “We are not able to produce further details … I’d like to remind everybody that this is still an open and ongoing investigation.”
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins also declined to provide details about the investigation, saying that her office and police “are in the beginning of the road.”
Jenkins, however, criticized those who “spread misinformation … without having actionable facts” about the case, calling out Tesla Inc. TSLA, -1.00% Chief Executive Elon Musk and his tweets about the slaying.
“Reckless and irresponsible” statements such as his misled the world in its perception of San Francisco and negatively impacted the pursuit of justice at a time police are trying to “solve a difficult case,” Jenkins said.
Shortly after the crime, Musk said in a tweet that “violent crime in SF is horrific” and asked Jenkins whether the city was taking “stronger action” to jail repeat, violent offenders.
The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office has a record of Momeni being booked at the county jail at 9:19 a.m. Pacific time on a murder charge.
Lee was an early executive at Square, now called Block Inc. SQ, -0.17%, and created the company’s Cash App mobile wallet. He was killed last Tuesday in predawn hours in the city’s Rincon Hill neighborhood.
Supervisor Matt Dorsey, whose district includes the area, praised the police action on Twitter.
