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A New York Times executive who police said was killed by his in-laws in a northern California park over the weekend had been facing child abuse charges and was involved in a custody dispute with his wife.
Officers found 40-year-old Jonathan McKinsey fatally shot in the parking lot of the Dublin Sports Grounds on the afternoon of Saturday, September 26, after a sergeant spotted him lying on the ground, according to a police news release.
McKinsey, of Dublin, was declared dead at the park, which is located in the San Francisco Bay area.
A local resident, Assad Razawi, saw McKinsey fall to the ground after hearing multiple gunshots, he told the San Francisco Chronicle. He said he then saw a man and a woman, whom he suspected had shot McKinsey, calmly walking away.
Witnesses pointed officers to the couple — McKinsey’s in-laws — leading to their arrests “within minutes,” police said.
Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, are each charged with suspicion of murder, according to police.
McKinsey was the head of engineering for New York Times Games, the company confirmed to news outlets. He joined the newspaper in 2023 after working for Splunk, UKG, and Oracle, his LinkedIn profile showed.
Authorities didn’t specify a potential motive for the shooting.
However, McKinsey and his wife, Candice Jang, had an ongoing custody dispute involving accusations of abuse made by both parties ahead of McKinsey’s death, according to court records viewed by The Mercury News.
Court documents filed last year show Jang sought a restraining order against McKinsey, accusing him of hitting their son in the face and causing a “very large bruise the shape of a handprint.”
She also accused McKinsey of bruising her by violently grabbing her wrist in 2018, according to the newspaper.
McKinsey was charged with two counts of misdemeanor child abuse last year, court records viewed by the San Francisco Chronicle show.
Deputies visiting McKinsey’s house reportedly also found that he allegedly left a 2-year-old child home alone while he was shopping.
McKinsey ultimately pleaded not guilty to both child abuse charges relating to the two children, according to the newspaper. He agreed to take 12 parenting classes and was released from custody.
In a court filing last month, Jang stated, “Due to his violent and negligent history, our children are simply not safe when left unsupervised and in his care,” according to The Mercury News.
McKinsey, who had denied the abuse accusations, sought his own restraining order against Jang in December 2025, alleging that she once attacked him with a frying pan and “verbally denigrated their children,” the newspaper reported.
McKinsey, who was transgender, also accused his in-laws of abuse related to his identity, according to his petition for a restraining order submitted the same month he had filed to divorce Jang, per the New York Times.
He reportedly claimed his mother-in-law, Chen, referred to him, as well as his son, as a “pervert” and “monster,” and that his father-in-law, Zhang, once punched his chest following a double mastectomy procedure that McKinsey underwent in 2010.
Information on legal representation for Chen and Zhang wasn’t immediately available.
The couple are both detained without bail, according to The Mercury News. They’re due in court for an arraignment on September 30.
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