San Francisco police on Thursday arrested a suspect in the fatal stabbing of technology executive Bob Lee, law enforcement officials announced Thursday, drawing a close to a nine-day manhunt that rattled the city and drew national attention.
In a news conference Thursday afternoon, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott identified the suspect as 38-year-old Nima Momeni of Emeryville, a suburb of San Francisco. Scott confirmed that Lee and Momeni knew each other, but he declined to go into detail on a possible motive.
Momeni will be charged with murder, with a special allegation that he used a knife as a murder weapon, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told reporters. She plans to file a motion to detain him without bail.
He is expected to be arraigned Friday afternoon.
The killing has intensified debate about public safety issues in San Francisco. In her remarks, Jenkins nodded to the scrutiny.
“I acknowledge and understand how the loss of a young, vibrant leader and innovator has rocked our city, and even beyond,” Jenkins said.
She went on to criticize public figures who attempted to portray Lee’s killing as a symptom of a “lawless” metropolis without knowing all the facts — a group that included tech mogul Elon Musk.
“I must point out that reckless and irresponsible statements, like those contained in Mr. Musk’s tweet that assumed incorrect circumstances of Mr. Lee’s death, serve to mislead the world in its perception of San Francisco,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins was referring to a tweet Musk sent after the news of Lee’s killing first broke earlier this month. “Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately,” Musk wrote, tagging Jenkins.
Police have said officers responded to a report of a stabbing around 2:35 a.m. on April 4. The officers discovered Lee with apparent stab wounds. He was taken to a hospital and died of his injuries.
In a surveillance video published by the Daily Mail, Lee can be seen staggering and appearing to ask for help after he was stabbed.
Lee had been working as the chief product officer of the cryptocurrency company MobileCoin. He was previously chief technology officer of Square (now known as Block), a financial technology startup co-founded by the former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey.
He went on to create Cash App, a well-known money transfer service.
Lee also was an investor in Musk’s SpaceX venture, as well as other tech firms, such as the social audio app Clubhouse, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In a Facebook post on April 5, Lee’s father mourned his son, writing that the two had recently relocated from California to Miami.
“Bobby worked harder than anyone and was the smartest person I have ever known,” Richard Lee said in the post, which was accompanied by a news article about the stabbing. “Thank you to those who have reached out in support.”
San Francisco has recorded 13 homicides since the start of the year, according to data compiled by the police department. The city recorded the same number of homicides over the same period last year.
This article first appeared on NBCNews.com.