Arrest made in Bob Lee killing; suspect Nima Momeni is an entrepreneur

District Lawyer Brooke Jenkins billed 38-yr-aged Emeryville resident Nima Momeni with murder for allegedly stabbing Lee two times in the chest at 2:30 a.m. on April 4, leaving a trail of blood on the sidewalk in San Francisco’s rich Rincon Hill neighborhood. Lee, 43, was a colourful, outsize determine, identified for his management position at Sq. and for performing on the team that introduced Google’s Android functioning system, but additional often remembered as the previous man to leave any bash.

Officers booked Momeni into San Francisco County Jail at 9:19 a.m. He was scheduled to seem for his 1st court hearing on Friday.

The sufferer and the accused killer understood every other, Police Chief Invoice Scott advised reporters who collected Thursday afternoon at the department’s headquarters in China Basin. Scott explained officers experienced served two research warrants in San Francisco in addition to the arrest and look for warrant in Emeryville, but he declined to offer you far more element.

“We know that this has been a higher-profile circumstance, and there has been a great deal of speculation, and a large amount of matters said about our town, and crime in the town,” Mayor London Breed explained at the opening of the press convention, through which she recommended regulation enforcement for managing the circumstance appropriately.

Jenkins spoke in a additional pointed tone, citing “reckless and irresponsible statements” on social media — including a put up from Twitter operator Elon Musk — that “serve to mislead the planet in their perceptions of San Francisco, and also negatively effect the pursuit of justice for victims of criminal offense.”

Momeni was not promptly offered for comment and it was unclear irrespective of whether he had a law firm. He formerly explained himself in a LinkedIn profile as an data technology specialist and entrepreneur for a company known as Increase IT.

Alameda County courtroom documents demonstrate that in 2011, Momeni was billed with allegedly selling a switchblade knife and driving with a suspended license, equally misdemeanors. He pleaded no contest to the suspended license cost the following calendar year, and the knife cost was dismissed. He was sentenced to 10 times in jail as effectively as a few years of probation, fined a lot more than $900 and purchased to destroy the knife.

On top of that, Momeni was charged with a misdemeanor in 2004 for allegedly driving though intoxicated.

Police approached Momeni’s residence at the sprawling Besler Developing in Emeryville — a previous steam-automobile manufacturing plant converted to live-perform lofts — at 5:05 a.m. Thursday, neighbors reported. Chris Donatiello, who life a flooring higher than the building’s entrance on Harlan Street, mentioned he awoke to a bellow around loudspeakers, saying, “We have a warrant for your arrest, appear out with your palms up.”

Peering outdoors, Donatiello glimpsed 5 or six officers in full SWAT equipment standing in front of the creating, with two in the vicinity of the front door and 3 or four in the parking good deal, he claimed.

Donatiello realized Momeni from temporary encounters at the Besler, and characterised him as “a super wonderful person.”

“He remaining me in a greater mood every single time I talked to him,” Donatiello said. “I can’t believe that it,” he included, referring to the arrest.

One more resident who withheld his title, citing privacy considerations, reported Momeni had come to his doorway the evening of the incident, inquiring for liquor. It wasn’t very clear if the neighbor met with Momeni right before or just after the slaying. The neighbor declined to reply additional queries.

At the very least one Besler resident complained to the Homeowners’ Association about a disturbance on April 3 — the day right before the killing — in which a girl knocked on neighbors’ doorways some time ahead of 4 a.m., shouting Momeni’s name.

Public affairs guide Sam Singer, who a short while ago opened an office environment subsequent door to Momeni’s next-flooring loft, recalled a equally pleasurable interaction with a man who gamely handed out business enterprise playing cards and ingratiated himself to strangers.

“I was coming into our model new East Bay office, and his doorway was open up, so I knocked to introduce myself,” Singer said. Momeni answered and gave Singer a tour of his unit, which he had furnished with a pool desk and scads of engineering equipment. With its grid of home windows and inlaid brick facade, the Besler has housed architects, lawyers, artists, techies and the occasional Emeryville politician.

Momeni seemed “warm and welcoming,” Singer explained, remembering how Momeni popped into his business office, admired the house and supplied details know-how companies should really Singer’s company ever have to have them.

Akash Sawhney satisfied Momeni in 2015, though working for Outward, a startup that had employed Momeni to established up its details technology community. Like other people, Sawhney had constructive impressions of Momeni, who he said was “super helpful” and displayed no red flags or flashes of anger.

The two adult men connected over faith after Sawhney uncovered that Momeni was Zoroastrian — a member of the ancient monotheistic faith that originated in Iran. Numerous Zoroastrians fled persecution and wound up in India, where Sawhney grew up.