New York Times engineering executive shot dead; in-laws arrested, police say

A New York Times engineering executive was fatally shot by his in-laws on Saturday, Sept. 26, while he was involved in a legal dispute over domestic violence and child custody, according to authorities and court records. Dublin police said the shooting happened shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon in Dublin, a city in Alameda County. An officer arrived at Dublin Sports Grounds and found Jonathan McKinsey, the Times' head of engineering and games player experiences, on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses told KGO-TV in San Francisco that they heard a burst of gunfire and then saw the victim on the ground. "I saw the guy drop to the floor: head bloody and chest bloody," witness Assad Razawi told the station. His daughter said her father saw the couple "walking together and then casually walk away from the shooting." After multiple calls from eyewitnesses, Dublin police located and arrested two suspects: Shouyong Zhang, 77, and Shili Chen, 77, a married couple identified as McKinsey's in-laws. Both are being held at Santa Rita Jail, police said in a statement. Court documents show that McKinsey and his wife, Candice Jang, were in the middle of a child custody battle at the time of his death. Last year, a judge granted Jang's request for a domestic violence temporary restraining order against McKinsey, the documents show. McKinsey filed for divorce in December, and a hearing had been scheduled for next month. In August, the court approved the hiring of a private child custody evaluator. McKinsey, 40, received a bachelor's degree from Georgia Tech and a master's degree in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. The Times confirmed that he had worked there since 2023. Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, his parents-in-law, face multiple charges, including first-degree murder. They also face felony conspiracy, wilful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and child endangerment charges.