SFPD Chief Bill Scott has expressed “100% confidence” in his homicide department as it investigates MobileCoin exec Bob Lee’s murder.
Bob Lee was fatally stabbed early Tuesday morning near the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. Lee died soon after at a nearby hospital where he was taken. The incident has put the tech industry on edge, with some questioning whether it was a random or targeted act.
When speaking to CBS SF Bay Area, Chief Scott said it was too early to tell what the motive was.
“It’s early to tell. What I will tell you is our homicide team is working tirelessly to get this to a resolution,” Scott said. “We have a lot that’s on our plate with this investigation and following up on things that need to be followed up on. We’ll put the information out, but we don’t want to do anything to compromise this investigation.”
“I have 100% confidence in this unit,” Scott added.
Scott also was quick to address concerns that violent crime is rising unchecked in the city.
“Let’s look at the data. Yes, our homicide rate is up one more than we had this time last year,” Scott said. “It’s still early in the year. Let’s look at the last five years. You know, pre-pandemic — go back to 2019 — we were down to a low in homicides we hadn’t seen since the early ’60s. It has creeped up since then. The pandemic year, I think across the country we saw violent crime creep up. So we’re no different.
“When you at San Francisco’s violent crime rate compared to other cities per 100,000 [in population], we’re towards the bottom for major cities,” added. “That never gets talked about. We have our issues with our city. We have some things we definitely have to continue to work on. We have these images that go viral and are posted all over the world dealing with drug use and homelessness. Those are real issues in our city and we’re addressing that too. But violent crime? We’re not that city.”
