The man fatally shot Saturday afternoon at a Dublin sports complex spent the past year embroiled in a bitter custody dispute with the daughter of the two people accused of killing him, court records show.
Jonathan McKinsey, 40, of Dublin, was fatally shot in the parking lot at Dublin Sports Grounds on September 26, 2026. His parents-in-law have been arrested and charged. He was Head of Engineering, Games Player Experience at The New York Times. (Photo: LinkedIN)
The dispute between Jonathan McKinsey, 40, and his wife, Candice Jang, included competing allegations of abuse and was due back in court Friday. Police have not announced a motive in McKinsey’s killing, saying only that he was deliberately targeted.
Authorities say McKinsey’s parents-in-law, Shouyong Zhang, 77, and Shili Chen, 77, were arrested as they walked away from the scene shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday. Both are being held without bail on suspicion of murder and other felonies at Santa Rita Jail and are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.
Video captured immediately after the shooting showed McKinsey lying behind a white SUV with its rear hatch open as stunned bystanders stood nearby.
On Monday, Dublin police declined to comment further about the killing, citing the fact that investigators had yet to present their case to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
Attempts by this news organization to reach an attorney for McKinsey were unsuccessful. A message left with the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office was not immediately returned.
Court records show the custody dispute between McKinsey and Jang was set to resume this week with a court hearing Friday, amid competing claims of abuse and dueling allegations that each was ill-suited to care for their children. McKinsey petitioned for divorce in December 2025, the same month he levied the allegations against Jang.
As of late August, McKinsey had asked the court for more visitation time with his children, writing in one filing that “I miss our children deeply and am pleading with this court to allow me more time with them, and potentially unsupervised time with the children.” In her own filing, Jang wrote that McKinsey “has proven that he is incapable of controlling his anger and his abuse of our children when left with the children unsupervised.”
McKinsey was already allowed supervised visitation with his children as of August, but he had been seeking to have the supervision removed.
In court filings over the last year, McKinsey faced multiple allegations of abuse by Jang, his wife of more than a decade. In one instance, she alleged McKinsey hit one of her sons in the face during an argument over Legos, leaving a “very large bruise the shape of a handprint” on his face, according to a restraining order that the woman sought against McKinsey.
Dublin police later opened a criminal investigation into those claims, during which Jang said McKinsey had previously been violent with her in 2018 by grabbing her wrist hard enough to leave bruises, according to court records. Officers also reported finding McKinsey’s 2-year-old child alone in the house while McKinsey was out shopping.
Alameda County prosecutors subsequently charged McKinsey with two misdemeanors — cruelty to a child by endangering health and corporal injury to a child. He was freed on $50,000 bail and, at the time of his killing, had been trying to enter a mental health diversion program. If successfully completed, the program would have resulted in the charges being dismissed.
Shili Chen, 77, was arrested for the shooting death of Jonathan McKinsey, 40, of Dublin, in a parking lot of the Dublin Sports Grounds on Saturday afternoon. (Alameda County Sheriff’s Office)
Shouyong Zhang, 77, was arrested for the shooting death of Jonathan McKinsey, 40, of Dublin, in a parking lot of the Dublin Sports Grounds on Saturday afternoon. (Alameda County Sheriff’s Office)
In subsequent court filings, an attorney for Jang wrote that McKinsey “is simply prone to domestic violence and child abuse,” and that Jang said the incident was “far from the first time” that he had “committed physical violence against me or our family members.”
“Due to his violent and negligent history, our children are simply not safe when left unsupervised and in his care,” Jang wrote in a court filing last month.
McKinsey disputed that portrayal and made allegations of his own. In December 2025, he sought a restraining order against Jang, alleging years of abuse by his wife dating back more than 15 years. His filing included an allegation that she beat him with a frying pan in 2013 and accusations that she verbally denigrated their children.
His petition also alleged that Jang’s mother — shooting suspect Shili Chen — had been verbally abusive to one of the couple’s young children, raising objections over the child’s clothing. McKinsey, who was transgender, alleged that Chen also directed anti-LGBTQ+ slurs at him and the child. According to the petition, Chen referred first to the child, then to McKinsey, as a “disgusting queer” and a “pervert.”
In his filing, McKinsey accused Jang of being abusive during medical procedures related to his transition. In one instance, he alleged Jang tried to pull medical tubes from his body shortly after a procedure.
McKinsey also alleged Jang’s father, who was not named in the filing, punched him in the chest while he was recovering from double mastectomy surgery.
A message left with Jang’s attorney was not immediately returned Monday afternoon.
A LinkedIn page bearing McKinsey’s name shows he worked at The New York Times for more than three years, most recently as director of engineering for games player experience. An email to The New York Times Co. was not immediately returned Monday afternoon.
On Monday, several neighbors in McKinsey’s apartment building said they seldom saw McKinsey or Jang, and many declined to comment further. One woman, who gave only her first name, Eva, said she arrived home around midnight Sunday to find several sheriff’s deputy vehicles parked outside McKinsey’s apartment — a sight she described as “extremely shocking” for the normally “quiet neighborhood.”
East Bay Editor Cyrus Farivar contributed to this developing report. Check back for updates.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com