Police have made an arrest in the killing of an Australian tourist outside a San Francisco hotel.

Officer Giselle Talkoff, a city police spokeswoman, announced the arrest on Saturday. No further information about the suspect was released.

Authorities said 33-year-old Matthew Bate got into an argument with two men that turned physical about 2am on Friday outside the Da Vinci Villa hotel in the Russian Hill neighbourhood. He was pronounced dead at hospital.

Police said no weapons were involved in the fight.

Bate lived in Woolner, a suburb of Darwin, Australia. He was an analytical chemist with SGS Australia, which offers a range of testing and certification services to businesses.

His family said of Bate: “He had such a warm and kind soul and was a wonderful son, brother, uncle and friend.”



The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing Bate’s family with consular assistance.

“The department requests the media to respect the privacy of the family at this most difficult time,” Dfat said in a statement on Saturday.