Jonathan McKinsey, a New York Times Games engineering executive, was shot and killed in a Dublin, California, park parking lot on Saturday afternoon. Police arrested his parents-in-law, Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, on suspicion of murder following the incident.
The afternoon shooting unfolded at the Dublin Sports Grounds just after 3 p.m. local time on Saturday. As emergency dispatchers processed multiple calls about gunfire, the City of Dublin noted that a Dublin Police Services sergeant patrolling near the athletic facility discovered a man down in the parking lot and pulled over to check on the situation according to the City of Dublin.
Authorities identified the victim as 40-year-old Jonathan McKinsey, who served as director of engineering for New York Times Games and had worked for the company since January 2023. Eyewitnesses at the sports complex described a chaotic scene in broad daylight. I saw the guy drop to the floor. Head bloody and chest bloody,
eyewitness Assad Razawi told ABC News in an account highlighted by The Times of India. Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, were arrested on suspicion of murder. Inmate records from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office note that Shouyong Zhang stands 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 165 pounds, while Shili Chen measures 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds.
Custody Disputes and Court Filings Preceding the Shooting
Months before the fatal encounter, McKinsey and his wife, Candice Jang, were embroiled in a bitter legal battle involving divorce proceedings, competing restraining orders, and custody disputes over their three children. Court records show that both parents filed domestic violence restraining order requests against one another in 2025, and a custody hearing was scheduled for Friday following the shooting according to court documents. Court documents indicate the couple had been married for 14 years and were living apart, with Jang holding sole legal and physical custody of their three children.
The family court files revealed domestic strife. McKinsey, a transgender man who completed a gender transition around 2010, accused his estranged wife and in-laws of anti-transgender hostility and physical abuse. In dueling filings, McKinsey alleged that his father-in-law punched him in the chest while he was recovering from a double mastectomy in 2010, that his wife tried to pull medical tubes from his chest after a procedure, and that Jang once struck him with a frying pan as detailed in court transcripts. McKinsey also claimed that his mother-in-law branded him a “pervert” and a disgusting queer
during arguments over a child’s clothing choices.
In response, Jang and her family raised allegations against McKinsey. Prosecutors in Alameda County charged McKinsey with two misdemeanors—cruelty to a child by endangering health and corporal injury to a child—after Jang reported that McKinsey had struck her six-year-old son in the face with an open hand, leaving a bruise. Jang also pointed to a prior 2018 domestic violence incident where McKinsey allegedly bruised her left arm, noting that deputies had responded to a call where a two-year-old child was left unattended in an upstairs bedroom while McKinsey went shopping. McKinsey pleaded not guilty to those charges and was released on bail on the condition that he complete 12 parenting classes as reported in probable cause declarations. Court records show a pretrial hearing for the child abuse case was scheduled for September.
Legal Defense Strategy and Arraignment Delays
During a court appearance that was postponed to give counsel time to review the case, defense attorney Curtis Briggs offered the first public window into the family’s defense strategy outside an Alameda County courthouse reported KTVU.
Briggs pushed back against theories that the shooting was motivated by transphobia, stating that the suspects had been supportive. Instead, the defense lawyer pivoted to the allegations contained in the divorce files, characterizing McKinsey as a violent and volatile figure who terrorized his family according to SFist. Briggs stated that McKinsey rained hell on his family for years.
Briggs added, She’s in one of the toughest jails in the county. She’s a loving, devoted grandmother. So my concerns are that any person in that kind of situation probably couldn’t handle being in custody.
Neighborhood residents expressed disbelief that such a violent homicide could occur in broad daylight at a community sports complex where children gather.
