Cash App founder Bob Lee left San Francisco over crime but was back to visit when he was stabbed, says friend

‘I think he had a little business back in San Francisco for a couple of days’

Bob Lee pictured at the New York Stock Exchange in 2015 (Facebook / Bob Lee)

Cash App founder Bob Lee had relocated to Miami from San Francisco due to fears of rising crime but was back visiting the California city when he was stabbed to death in an apparent random mugging, according to a friend.

The tech mogul was found at 2.35am Tuesday outside a luxury high-rise apartment on the 300 block of Main St near Rincon Hill and the Bay Bridge, with life-threatening stab wounds, the police said.

Lee’s friend and mixed martial arts champion Jake Shields said that the entrepreneur had just moved to Miami due to a rise in drug abuse and crime in San Francisco.

He told NewsNation that the attack was another “senseless act of violence in San Francisco”.

"He did comment on San Francisco deteriorating, which is why he had actually just relocated to Miami,” Mr Shields said.

Lee, 43, had sold his longtime multi-million dollar home in the Bay Area just months before he was stabbed, the New York Post reported.

He purchased a four-bedroom residence in Mill Valley in 2018 for $2.6m, which he sold last July for $4.43m.

"So, I’m not sure why he’s even back there. I think he had a little business back in San Francisco for a couple of days," Mr Shields said, adding that he used to live in the same area where Lee was killed.

"The city – it’s had problems for a while," he said.

Mr Shields said he initially felt okay in that area but ended up feeling unsafe when his girlfriend was robbed. He eventually moved to Las Vegas.

"But it’s very clear to anyone that’s been there for a long time that it keeps getting worse.

"People talk and say they’re going to do things, but no one does anything."

The San Francisco Police Department said in a statement that Lee was found with fatal stab wounds in Downtown San Francisco between Soma and the Financial District, a block from Google’s San Francisco headquarters.

He was treated at the scene by first responders before being rushed to hospital where he died from his injuries, police said.

So far no arrests have been made.