DUBLIN, CA — Jonathan McKinsey, 40, a director of engineering for the New York Times’ games division, was shot and killed Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of Dublin Sports Grounds, and his parents-in-law — both 77 years old — were arrested as the suspected shooters, Dublin Police Services said.
The killing stunned witnesses in one of the East Bay’s busier suburban parks on a Saturday afternoon and quickly drew national attention once McKinsey’s employer and identity were confirmed. Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, a married couple who lived in the same Dublin community as McKinsey, are now being held without bail at Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail, facing charges that include first-degree murder and felony conspiracy. Investigators have not announced a motive, and the case remains an active homicide investigation. The couple’s arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday.
A Dublin Police Services sergeant was driving near the sports complex on Dublin Boulevard, beside Interstate 580, at approximately 3 p.m. Saturday when he spotted a man lying on the ground in the parking lot. At nearly the same moment, 911 dispatchers began receiving a flood of calls from witnesses reporting a shooting, police said. Officers found McKinsey suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and pronounced him dead at the scene despite the efforts of first responders. Witness Assad Razawi, speaking to ABC7, described the moment the shots rang out. “I saw the guy drop to the floor,” Razawi said. “Head bloody and chest bloody.” Razawi also told the San Francisco Chronicle that after the shooting, witnesses observed two people walking calmly away from the scene together, and those witnesses then flagged down the nearby police sergeant, helping officers locate the suspects within minutes of the attack.
Multiple witnesses reported that two masked individuals had approached McKinsey in the open parking lot, and that both took turns firing at him before walking away on foot. Police located Zhang and Shili Chen in a black sedan at a nearby intersection, and both were taken into custody without further incident, according to witness accounts cited by the San Francisco Chronicle. Dublin police confirmed that Zhang and Chen are McKinsey’s in-laws and that all three were residents of Dublin. Officers said there were no outstanding suspects and no known ongoing threat to the public following the arrests. According to Alameda County Sheriff’s Office booking records, Zhang stands 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 165 pounds, while Chen stands 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. Investigators said they could not provide additional details on the active investigation when asked Monday morning about the child abuse charge included in the couple’s arrest record.
Court records obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle show that McKinsey and his wife, Candice Jang — the daughter of Zhang and Chen — had been involved in a series of overlapping legal disputes in the year before his death. Jang sought a domestic violence restraining order against McKinsey in October 2025; McKinsey sought one against Jang in December of the same year. McKinsey also filed for divorce in December 2025, and the couple had continued litigating child custody into 2026. Court records appear to show the couple originally married in Harris County, Texas, in 2011. A neighbor of the family told the Chronicle that McKinsey had recently moved out of the home he shared with his wife and their three children. Separately, Alameda County prosecutors charged McKinsey in October 2025 with two misdemeanor counts of child abuse. A probable cause declaration cited a report from a woman — identified in records as Jang — who told police that McKinsey had struck her six-year-old son in the face with an open hand. She also reported a 2018 domestic violence incident in which McKinsey allegedly bruised her left arm. Deputies responding to McKinsey’s home in connection with that matter found a two-year-old child alone in an upstairs bedroom while McKinsey was away shopping, according to the probable cause statement. McKinsey pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on condition that he complete 12 parenting classes. Authorities have not stated whether the prior charges are connected to Saturday’s shooting.
Zhang and Chen were booked on suspicion of first-degree murder, felony conspiracy, willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and child endangerment that could have caused major injury or death, according to Alameda County jail records. The child abuse allegation in their arrest record has not been explained publicly, and Dublin police said Monday they could not offer further details. The couple is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Dublin, where prosecutors are expected to formalize first-degree murder charges, according to jail records reviewed by KTVU. No attorney for either suspect had been identified as of Monday. Dublin Police Services Captain Miguel Campos said in a statement Sunday that detectives are continuing to examine evidence to determine the full circumstances leading up to the homicide. “This investigation is active and ongoing,” Campos said. “DPS detectives are continuing to examine evidence to determine the circumstances that led to this homicide.” A neighbor told the Chronicle that a detective knocked on her door Saturday night, hours after the shooting, asking about the family.
McKinsey had built a career in technology spanning nearly two decades. He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2015. Early in his career he held engineering roles at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Oracle, and Coursera, according to his LinkedIn profile, before moving into engineering management at UKG and later at Splunk. He joined the New York Times in early 2023 as a senior engineering manager for the games platform, where he oversaw infrastructure for puzzle games including Connections and helped scale systems during periods of high traffic. He was promoted to director of engineering for games player experience in December 2025, leading a team of approximately 25 people focused on feature development and monetization for millions of daily users. A New York Times spokesperson confirmed McKinsey’s employment and death to multiple news outlets. On LinkedIn, colleague Nathan Wu wrote simply: “Rip buddy.” Dublin resident Kevin Stein, speaking to KTVU outside the sports grounds, captured the reaction of many in the community. “There were kids and families, just like you see now,” Stein said. “This parking lot is full on a Saturday. I mean, this place is busy on a Saturday. It’s incredible that they’d just do that right in front of everybody.”
As of Monday, Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen remained held without bail at Santa Rita Jail, with their arraignment set for Wednesday in Dublin. Investigators have not disclosed a motive, and Dublin Police said the case is still active. The next public milestone in the case will be Wednesday’s court appearance, where formal charges are expected to be entered against the couple.
