Police in San Francisco arrested tech executive Nima Momeni on Thursday for the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee.
Mr Momeni, 38, allegedly stabbed the 43-year-old after being involved in an altercation while driving in San Francisco’s Rincon Hill early on 4 April.
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott confirmed Mr Momeni had been charged with one count of murder at a press conference on Thursday.
The suspect was arrested without incident at an address in Emeryville, a city in the Bay Area, early on Thursday, Mr Momeni said.
The Mission Local news site was the first to report the arrest, and said that the pair were known to each other.
Booking records from the San Francisco County jail that Mr Momeni was booked in on a murder charge at 9.19am on Thursday.
The arrest was earlier confirmed by Lee’s ex-wife Krista, his brother Tim Oliver Lee, and city officials on Thursday.
Who is Nima Momeni?
According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr Momeni lives in Emeryville, in the Bay Area, and is the owner of Expand IT.
Expand IT describes itself as a “one-stop technology and security provider” for enterprise software companies.
The Independent’s calls to Expand IT went unanswered on Thursday morning.
Mr Momeni said on the profile that he had worked as “dedicated technology partner” supporting clients in healthcare, finance and startups at several tech firms in the Bay Area and San Jose since 2005.
He attended the University of California, Berkeley, and is fluent in English and Farsi, the profile states.
A search of property records showed Mr Momeni owns an apartment at 4053 Harlan St in Emeryville that he purchased for $525,000 in 2020.
Mr Momeni was arrested at the address in Emeryville at around 5am.
Shocked residents reported seeing a large number of police officers outside the address, according to KCBS.
And the night before Lee’s death, a woman entered the building where Mr Momeni lived at 2.30am and began screaming his name, residents told the Los Angeles Times.
The woman left when neighbours threatened to phone police, according to posts on a building social media group. It’s unclear if this incident was connected to Lee’s death.
Sam Singer, a San Francisco area PR executive, had an office next to the suspected killer and said the arrest had come as a shock.
Mr Singer described Mr Momeni as a “very nice, welcoming guy” in comments to KTVU.
Mr Momeni had resided in California for much of the past 20 years at addresses in downtown San Francisco, Emeryville and San Jose.
The Mission Local reported that Mr Momeni and Lee knew each other, but it’s unclear exactly how.
Lee had been a high-profile member of the San Francisco tech community prior to relocating to Miami late last year.
The former chief technology officer for mobile payments giant Square had returned to his former hometown for a MobileCoin tech conference when he was killed.
What do we know about Bob Lee’s final moments?
According to the Mission Local, police believe Lee and the suspect had been in a car together in the early hours of 4 April when a fight broke out between the pair.
Citing police sources, the news site alleges that the tech executive stabbed Lee twice outside the vehicle, and responding officers recovered a knife nearby.
Lee’s murder was seized on by high-profile members of San Francisco’s tech community including Elon Musk as another expample of the city’s drug-fueled crime epidemic.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Matt Dorsey said he was “grateful” to the city’s homicide division for “their tireless work to bring Bob Lee’s killer to justice and for their arrest of a suspect this morning” in a Twitter post.
“Obviously, nothing can undo this senseless crime, and we reiterate our condolences to Mr. Lee’s family members, friends and colleagues. But I hope today’s arrest can begin a process of healing and closure for all those touched by this tragedy.”
