An elderly California couple faces murder charges after the fatal shooting of their son-in-law, a New York Times Games executive locked in a bitter custody battle with their daughter.
True Crime News reported that Jonathan McKinsey, 40, was fatally shot at a park in the Dublin, California area on Sept. 26 and pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities identified the suspects as his in-laws, Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, a married couple both 77 years old. They were arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a crime, then booked into Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.
Police say the pair fled after the shooting and were apprehended at an intersection near the park. Their arraignment was set for Sept. 30.
McKinsey worked as head of engineering for New York Times Games. At the time of his death, he and his wife’s daughter, Candice Jang, were deep in a contentious divorce and custody battle marked by mutual domestic-violence claims and open court filings.
Court records show years of accusations on both sides
Court documents obtained by KGO-TV and detailed in local coverage show both McKinsey and Jang accused each other of domestic violence during the breakup.
Jang applied for and received a protective order against McKinsey in October 2025. In that request, she alleged abuse of herself, the children, and her mother, describing incidents she said stretched from 2020 to 2025.
KCRA reporting on the filing included Jang’s own words seeking the order:
"The abuse that happened over the past 17 years has caused permanent damage to my mental health and physical health.... I would like a restraining order to protect myself and my three children, as well as my mother from future abuse."
McKinsey, for his part, alleged Jang abused him during the relationship. He also claimed Chen used anti-LGBTQ language against him and one of their children, and alleged Jang tried to pull medical tubes from his body after a transition-related procedure. McKinsey was described in the coverage as transgender.
Family killings and the police work that follows them remain a grim constant, as seen when five family members were killed in a targeted East St. Louis shooting and teens were taken into custody.
Child-abuse charges loomed the same week
Separate from the protective order, McKinsey faced two counts of misdemeanor child abuse. Prosecutors alleged he hit his 6-year-old son in the face and left a 2-year-old alone at home for more than an hour without supervision.
He pleaded not guilty. He was scheduled to appear in court on those charges the week of Sept. 28, days after the park shooting.
No official motive for the shooting has been publicly stated. The custody fight, the protective order, and the pending child-abuse case form the documented backdrop authorities and local outlets have tied to the family at the time of the killing.
Cases that end with bodies recovered and relatives pointing to deeper breakdowns are not rare; three people were found dead in a Rocky Mount home after a family pointed to a utility shutoff and a wider collapse of care.
Arrests came quickly after the park shooting
On Sept. 26, McKinsey was shot at the park and died there. Zhang and Chen allegedly ran, then were stopped nearby. Authorities booked them into Santa Rita Jail on the murder and conspiracy suspicions and set the Sept. 30 arraignment.
Specifics still missing from public accounts include the park’s name, the exact agency that made the arrest, the weapon used, and any quoted statement of motive from police or prosecutors. Coverage has relied on “authorities” for the charge labels and on court papers obtained by local television for the family-court history.
Violent family disputes that end in homicide often leave investigators sorting years of filings after the fact, much like the grim recovery work after a Georgia mother was identified following a dismemberment case.
Long-running domestic cases can also surface decades later in court. That pattern appeared when a Cal Fire captain’s wife pleaded guilty to murder more than two decades after killing a first spouse the same way.
What the record shows, and what it does not
What is established so far is narrow and serious. A 40-year-old father and New York Times Games engineering lead was shot dead at a park. His 77-year-old in-laws were arrested nearby, jailed in Dublin, and face first-degree murder and conspiracy allegations. Their daughter was in an active custody war with the victim, complete with a 2025 protective order, mutual abuse claims, and pending misdemeanor child-abuse counts against McKinsey set for court the same week he was killed.
What is not established is a declared motive, a named shooting weapon, or on-the-record quotes from the arresting agency beyond the charge descriptions carried in the initial reporting.
Mass-casualty family attacks elsewhere have followed a similar public arc, swift arrests, sparse early detail, and a long wait for trial facts, including when five relatives died in another East St. Louis mass shooting and teenage suspects entered custody.
When parents and grandparents insert themselves into a custody war with a gun, the courtroom paperwork stops mattering and the body count starts. Law-and-order means charging the shooters, protecting the children left behind, and refusing to romanticize family rage as private business.
