A New York Times games executive was shot dead in a public park in Dublin, California, and police say the shooter was his own mother-in-law and father-in-law.
Quick Take
- Jonathan McKinsey, 40, was found with multiple gunshot wounds at Dublin Sports Grounds Saturday afternoon and died at the scene.
- Police arrested his in-laws, identified as Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both in their late 70s, near the park shortly after the shooting.
- Court records show McKinsey and his wife, Candice Jang, were locked in a bitter child custody battle at the time of his death.
- Reporting also points to a 2023 accusation against McKinsey for rough physical discipline of a child, plus a more recent child-endangerment case.
- Police have not announced a motive, and the exact sequence of the shooting has not been confirmed through court filings.
What Happened At Dublin Sports Grounds
Dublin police say the shooting happened Saturday afternoon, shortly after 3 p.m., at Dublin Sports Grounds, a public park near City Hall. Officers arrived to find McKinsey on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The location matters here.
This was not a private dispute behind closed doors. It happened in daylight, in a family park, where anyone walking by could have seen it unfold.
Witnesses flooded police dispatch with calls almost immediately. That flood of tips helped officers identify and arrest two suspects walking away from the scene within minutes of the shooting.
Police identified them as Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 76 or 77 years old, and both related to McKinsey by marriage. Multiple outlets confirm they were his in-laws, the parents of his wife.
Who The Victim Was And Why His Job Made Headlines
McKinsey worked at the New York Times, though outlets differ slightly on his exact title, describing him as head of engineering, director of engineering, or a games engineer for the company’s gaming division. That inconsistency is a media detail, not a mystery about the man.
What is consistent across every report is that he was a real executive at a major news organization, killed in broad daylight by people who were supposed to be family.
A Custody Fight Sat Behind The Violence
Court documents reviewed by reporters show McKinsey and his wife, Candice Jang, were in the middle of a child custody dispute when he was killed.
That dispute reportedly included competing restraining orders and a pending divorce. Family court battles rarely stay contained to paperwork. They spill into daily life, into pickups and drop-offs, into parks where families still try to meet on neutral ground. This one apparently spilled into gunfire.
Separate court records reported by ABC News state that in 2023, Jang accused McKinsey of shoving one of their children and using rough physical discipline. Other reporting points to a more recent, October child-endangerment case tied to McKinsey.
These allegations came from court filings, not a verdict, and they describe accusations rather than proven facts. Still, they help explain why this family’s court file was already thick with conflict before anyone pulled a trigger.
Two 77-year-old grandparents are accused of shooting and killing their son-in-law — a New York Times executive — outside San Francisco. Court documents show his estranged wife alleged incidents of domestic violence and child abuse. @TrevorLAult reports. https://t.co/5AfNO4jzqv pic.twitter.com/xci9ZhceYu
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) September 28, 2026
The Broader Pattern Behind Custody-Linked Violence
This case fits a pattern researchers have documented for years. Separation, divorce, and custody disputes are well-established risk factors for family homicide, particularly once one side feels they are losing control over their children or their case.
A landmark case-control study found that roughly 44 percent of women killed by an intimate partner had recently separated or were in the process of separating.
None of that proves what motivated this specific shooting. It does explain why family courts, not just criminal courts, deserve scrutiny when violence like this erupts.
What Remains Unanswered
Police have not publicly stated a motive for the shooting, and no charging documents or arraignment records were immediately available describing the precise legal theory prosecutors will pursue.
That single gap is worth naming plainly, without turning it into the whole story. The facts on the ground are not in question: a man is dead, his in-laws are under arrest, and a family court fight sat in the background the entire time.
Dublin, a quiet East Bay suburb, recorded this as its first homicide of the year. It happened not in some hidden corner but at a public sports complex where families gather on weekends. That detail alone should unsettle anyone who assumes custody disputes stay confined to lawyers’ offices and courtroom benches.
Sources:
nbcnews.com, nytimes.com, abcnews.com, usatoday.com, sfchronicle.com, cbsnews.com, mercurynews.com
