New York Times engineer Jonathan McKinsey fatally shot in California; in-laws arrested

Shooting at Dublin Sports Grounds

Police officers in Dublin, California, responded to Dublin Sports Grounds around 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, 26 September 2026, after witnesses reported hearing five to six gunshots in the parking area. Officers discovered 40-year-old Jonathan McKinsey, director of engineering for New York Times Games, lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds to his head and chest. Paramedics declared McKinsey dead at the scene shortly after their arrival. A passing police sergeant witnessed McKinsey on the ground and stopped to provide immediate medical assistance before emergency responders arrived. Witnesses observed two elderly individuals walking away calmly from the sports facility immediately after the gunfire ceased.

Dublin resident Assad Razawi described the scene to reporters after witnessing the shooting.

“I saw the man fall to the ground: his head and chest were in blood.”

Arrest and criminal charges

Minutes after the shooting, police stopped McKinsey's parents-in-law, identified as Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both aged 76 or 77 depending on official records, at a nearby intersection. Officers arrested the Dublin residents and booked them into the Santa Rita Jail without bail. Prosecutors charged both Zhang and Chen with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit a crime, willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and child endangerment because children were present at the public park during the shooting. Investigators confirmed that no other suspects are sought in connection with the homicide. The two suspects are scheduled to make their initial appearance before a judge on Wednesday, 30 September 2026.

Court filings and allegations

The fatal shooting occurred during a contentious divorce and custody dispute between McKinsey and his wife, Candice Jang, who married around 2012 and share three children. Court documents in Alameda County show that both spouses had filed competing domestic violence restraining orders against each other in late 2025. McKinsey, a transgender man who joined The New York Times in 2023 after working at Splunk, Coursera, and Oracle, alleged in a December 2025 filing that Jang and her parents subjected him to transphobic abuse. He alleged that Zhang punched him in the chest in 2010 following double mastectomy surgery and that Chen directed slurs at him and one of their children. McKinsey also stated in court filings that his wife struck him with a frying pan during an altercation.

In court filings from October 2025, Jang presented counter-allegations against McKinsey regarding child safety and domestic altercations.

“Due to his violent and negligent history, our children are simply not safe when left unsupervised and in his care.”

Custody dispute and pending hearings

Jang alleged in her filings that McKinsey injured her upper back in October 2025 by dropping her onto a table corner, bruised her wrist in 2018, and struck their six-year-old son across the face during an argument over toys. McKinsey faced two misdemeanor child abuse charges in Alameda County, consisting of cruelty to a child by endangering health and corporal injury to a child, to which he pleaded not guilty. McKinsey had sought entry into a mental health diversion program in connection with the criminal misdemeanor counts. In August 2026, a family court judge granted McKinsey unsupervised visitation rights with the three children. The shooting occurred one week before a scheduled court hearing in the ongoing divorce proceedings.