A New York Times tech executive who was allegedly shot dead by his elderly in-laws in California was in a vicious war with them and his estranged wife for being transgender, according to court documents.
Jonathan McKinsey’s wife, Candice Jang, filed for a restraining order against him in 2025, and he replied by filing a restraining order of his own.
McKinsey claimed Jang had tried to pull medical tubes out of his body when he was transitioning from a woman to a man in 2010, the restraining order records, obtained by The Mercury News, said. The two married in 2011.
He also claimed in the same filing that his mother-in-law branded him a “disgusting queer” and a “pervert” after falling out with him over one of their children’s choice of clothing.
The 40-year-old, who was the Times’ head of engineering for games player experience, was gunned down in a sports complex parking lot in Dublin, California, around 3pm on Saturday.
Cops arrested his in-laws Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, who are accused of murder.
Jang and McKinsey had a violent history. During one alleged incident, he claimed Jang beat him with a frying pan in 2013, he alleged in his request for a restraining order. He also accused Jang of abusing their children verbally.
His restraining order petition also alleged Chen, Jang’s mother, was verbally abusive to the couple’s children, with arguments about the children’s clothing.
McKinsey was also charged with two counts of misdemeanor child abuse by Alameda prosecutors in 2025 after Jang called Dublin police to report McKinsey had hit her six-year-old son in the face with an open hand.
She also told investigators about a 2018 domestic violence incident, where McKinsey bruised her left arm, the documents say.
McKinsey ultimately pleaded not guilty to both crimes and was released from jail on the condition that he take parenting classes.
A spokesman for the Times confirmed McKinsey was the victim of the Saturday afternoon shooting and that he had worked for the newspaper since 2023.
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