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Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee – alleged killer also worked in tech

missionlocal.org

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Re: Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee – alleged killer also worked in tech

#681

Post by Convolutional »

mztwo wrote: post #22

As the news media and twitterverse peddled the whole "crime-ridden SF" angle, I felt myself getting drawn into the same topic and agreeing with numerous friends on how much the city has declined. This is a good reminder of how we gravitate towards powerful emotional narratives, which in the moment can feel absolutely true despite an utter lack of supporting facts on an individual murder case. I hope this brings some…

After the murder, I had to read scores of comments like this ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35456168 ) about the homeless, need for more law enforcement (although the US already incarcerates more of its population than any industrialized country) etc.

I had to read scores of tech bros in the professional-managerial class whinge about the poor, about black lives matter and how this was due to "progressivism".

Turns out the suspected murderer is a guy who describes himself as an "entrepreneur" on Linkedin and has a Crunchbase listing where he is described as being in executive management. Maybe we should have law enforcement target entrepreneurs as opposed to people made homeless by the enormous wealth disparity on display in San Francisco.

Re: Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee – alleged killer also worked in tech

#682

Post by hindsightbias »

anonkogudhyfhhf wrote: post #210

I know in the last thread everyone said he was a hero. But I looked at his bio and his last job was a token selling scam. Maybe he made some enemies

He supposedly left SF because it was unsafe and people assumed he meant “those people”.

Re: Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee – alleged killer also worked in tech

#683

Post by smsm42 »

tsgagnon wrote: post #494
asynchronous wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t understand why it can’t be both: SF is degenerating when it comes to random crime AND this murder wasn’t by some random thug. I remember reading blog after blog on HN about people moving out of SF specifically for what the city had become.

I don’t understand why it can’t be both: SF is degenerating when it comes to random crime AND this murder wasn’t by some random thug. Always important to reflect on whether stances like "SF is degenerating" are based on a rational analysis of what is actually happening, versus a more emotional response to stories that might be more like the topic of this post, just with less visibility into the exact circumstances of…

I've seen SF degenerating with my very own eyes and smelled it with my very own nose. Yes, this particular case may or may not be (we don't have jury decision yet) part of this pattern. But no amount of "akshually, this carefully picked statistic clearly shows that the crime is much better than it was in 1980s!" is going to change how I felt when I went to SF and how my eyes watered from the urine stench when I tried to ride BART in the city. Call me irrational as much as you want - but this is what being there felt lately, and it's obvious it is not only my personal point of view.

Re: Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee – alleged killer also worked in tech

#684

Post by etc-hosts »

say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #671
j4pe wrote: post #20

Joe Eskenazi, the author of this piece, is a solid journalist who helps run the tiny donation-funded Mission Local. They've done incredible reporting on corruption in the SF city government and punch way above their weight in the stories they break. I have respect for how Joe refused to join in reporting this murder as evidence of a violent crime epidemic, while still reporting on homelessness and property crime.

Joe Eskenazi shared the identity of the alleged killer, potentially ruining the life/career of someone who may not have killed Bob.

Looks like the SFPD waited a while to verify a possible narrative of what they believe happened before making an arrest.

If it's all made up, that would be amazing. Doubtful.

Re: Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee – alleged killer also worked in tech

#685

Post by throwaway292939 »

virgildotcodes wrote: post #553
asynchronous wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t understand why it can’t be both: SF is degenerating when it comes to random crime AND this murder wasn’t by some random thug. I remember reading blog after blog on HN about people moving out of SF specifically for what the city had become.

The linked article specifically shows that violent crime in SF is at an all time low, and lower than most other comparably sized cities.

Sure. However the "lack of safety" perception is real too.

If a homeless person walks up to you and aggressively threatens you as you are passing by, no crime has occurred. But if you're an SF native, you've learned to shrug it off as a commonplace occurrence. You've learned to become thick skinned towards these incidences. And when a real crime has happened, you'd likely assign more gravitas to it.

This is why there is a disconnect between numbers and quoted statistics and how people feel.

Re: Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee – alleged killer also worked in tech

#686

Post by bink »

microtherion wrote: post #653
pentagrama wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in doubt if is ethical journalism reveal the name and LinkedIn profile of an alleged killer, sounds like doxing to me.

Given how heavily and uncritically the initial theory of a homeless/lower class person as the killer was promoted (not least of all here on HN), I think it made a lot of sense to reveal that the actual suspect now arrested worked in the tech industry and was acquainted with the victim. Beyond that, it's nor clear to me that revealing the actual name or other personal details of the suspect serves a legitimate purpose…

I can see some benefit in that potential witnesses might be more likely to come forward. If I hear of a terrible crime and it turns out my neighbor was arrested for it I might potentially have some valuable information to contribute. I'm still not sure if it's a good thing though.

Re: Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee – alleged killer also worked in tech

#687

Post by AbsoluteCabbage »

Capital punishment is the only sane solution.

When you put a violent criminal to death, the crime rate is permanently and instantly lowered. If you lock them in a cage for 20 years we all pay the bills and they end up coming out and murdering again on the first day out. Total insanity.

Re: Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee – alleged killer also worked in tech

#688

Post by dkn775 »

jeffbee wrote: post #490
solarpunk wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume gang related violence kinda skews the concept of the victims and perpetrators knowing each other.

Indeed. Homicide spreads like a disease among people who are in connected social graphs. https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/december-2013/the-small...

This is fascinating. I live in Baltimore and follow a lot of street connected profiles as sort of an OSINT information gathering hobby. I’ve always seen on instagram where said population has RIP in their bios sometimes for 6-7 people. Really puts it in perspective that in a high homicide rate area, if you’re in the network, your risk is almost Warzone (or higher) on a per capita basis

Re: Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee – alleged killer also worked in tech

#689

Post by mlyle »

lelanthran wrote: post #666
zenlikethat wrote: post #632

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you're not the only one. While I don't like the depressing level of homelessness, mental illness, and drug addiction, I generally haven't felt nearly as unsafe as people always play up. If there's a volatile situation around, GTFO, and don't walk in dark neighborhoods at night, de-escalate, that kind of thing helps a lot of course. Also, why do we never factor gun violence into these conversations about safety? I…

> there were about 130 gun injuries/deaths per 100k in a recent year -- in SF, about 30! Which is worse, getting shot, or avoiding poop on the sidewalk San Francisco is number 23 for violent crime in the list of cities on wikipedia. Your options are not "get shot in another city Vs avoiding poop on the sidewalk in San Francisco", it's "don't get hurt or killed in the average city Vs get hurt or killed in San Francisc…

> San Francisco is number 23 for violent crime in the list of cities on wikipedia.

No. It's number 37. It's number 23 with the default sort, which is alphabetical order. (California is early in the alphabet).

It's number 66 when you sort by homicides per 100k.

Re: Arrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee – alleged killer also worked in tech

#690

Post by vasilipupkin »

Arkhaine_kupo wrote: post #541
pnathan wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One major aspect I want to touch on that bother me in the perspective you criticize. Poverty and crime are not married. My wife and I both grew up poor and working class. Living in trailers are in our life stories. You can be dog poor and still not be a junkie, still not mug others, still not assault people. This was understood widely in our upbringing and those we dealt with. People _did_ misbehave, but it was not "…

> Poverty and crime are not married. They 100% are. The plural of anecdote is not data. Your story is nice, but the reality is poverty is heavily correlated with crime. And social nets address both at once. letting poor people suffer because some poor people can improve their station in life through luck, hard work and a number of other extrenous factors is unethical.

this is really not true. Poverty is correlated with crime, but the magnitude of this correlation is quite small. Portugal is very safe and very poor compared to most of the US
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