San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins denounced a social media post shared by Tesla founder and Twitter CEO Elon Musk in relation to the recent stabbing murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee.
Lee, a 43-year-old tech executive, died at a hospital after being found wounded on a sidewalk in a San Francisco suburb earlier this month. On Thursday, police arrested a 38-year-old man, Nima Momeni, and charged him with murdering Lee.
At a news conference Thursday broadcast live on “EpochTV,” Jenkins criticized Musk for making “reckless and irresponsible statements” and spreading “misinformation.”
The district attorney was likely referring to the 51-year-old billionaire’s April 5 Twitter post in response to one of Lee’s friends.
“Many people I know have been severely assaulted. Violent crime in SF [San Francisco] is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately,” Musk wrote.
The Tesla CEO also tagged Jenkins in the post, asking the district attorney if the city is “taking stronger action to incarcerate repeat violent offenders.”
Very sorry to hear that. Many people I know have been severely assaulted.
Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately.
Is the city taking stronger action to incarcerate repeat violent offenders @BrookeJenkinsSF?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2023
Addressing Musk’s tweet at Thursday’s news briefing, Jenkins said the post “assumed incorrect circumstances” concerning Lee’s murder while arguing it “served to mislead the world in their perceptions of San Francisco.”
Jenkins also said it negatively impacted the pursuit of justice for victims of crime and accused Musk of spreading misleading information at a time when detectives worked to solve a difficult case.
“Since this incident happened, since waking up to Elon Musk’s tweet, my office has worked hard to actually tell people not to make assumptions about this case. We knew nothing about the facts of this case immediately after it happened. None of us did,” Jenkins said.
“So, my urging through Twitter, through the news, was to really press upon … not to draw conclusions about what happened in this case … and to be patient—to let this investigation play out,” she added.
Musk’s press team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Suspect Knew Victim
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said at Thursday’s news conference that investigators can confirm that Lee and Momeni knew each other, but he declined to elaborate on their connection or why they were together that night.
The police chief also refused to share any possible motive. He also wouldn’t reveal whether a weapon had been found after police executed search warrants in San Francisco and Emeryville.
Criminal records show Momeni was charged with carrying a switchblade in 2011, a misdemeanor offense. The case was dismissed the following year after he took a plea.
Momeni, a tech consultant, is the founder of software company Expand IT, an information technology consulting business with offices in Emeryville, California.
Jenkins said in a statement that Momeni is expected to be arraigned Friday. She added that prosecutors will ask a judge to hold him without bail.
“I acknowledge and understand how the loss of a young, vibrant leader and innovator has rocked our city and even beyond,” Jenkins said at the news conference.
Lee is known for creating Cash App while working as chief technology officer of the payment company Square, now known as Block. Cash App allows users to transfer money through a mobile app. In 2021, the software engineer became the chief product officer at a cryptocurrency startup called MobileCoin.
Public Safety Issues
Lee grew up in Missouri and recently moved to Miami with his father, but was in San Francisco for business at the time of his death. The murder has highlighted concerns about public safety in the city.
Former mayoral candidate Richie Greenberg told The Epoch Times: “This murder of Bob Lee is indeed a tragedy and a horrific reminder that San Francisco is not safe as long as there may be mentally ill, drug addicts, or malicious perpetrators of robberies running loose on the streets.”
Rincon Hill, the area where Lee was stabbed and collapsed, is known by locals as East Cut and is just steps away from an ocean view. The Portside building is adjacent to the financial district and only blocks away from the financial services company Charles Schwab.
As in other parts of San Francisco, there are homeless people living in the area. San Francisco Standard reported that Lee’s blood trail could be traced back on Main Street to a section under Bay Bridge that is a favorite place for homeless people to stay at night, especially on rainy days.
Just one day after Lee’s death, former San Francisco Fire Commissioner Don Carmignani was attacked with a metal pipe in San Francisco’s Marina District and suffered serious injuries, KRON4 reported. A suspect, 24-year-old Garret Doty, was arrested in the case.
According to Carmignani’s father, the fire commissioner is expected to survive, but recovery will take a long time.
Epoch Times reporters Mimi Nguyen Ly and Lear Zhou contributed to this report.