A New York Times executive, Jonathan McKinsey, was allegedly fatally shot by his in-laws during a supervised visit with his children in a California parking lot. The incident occurred on September 26 at the Dublin Sports Ground, where witnesses observed the 77-year-old couple, Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, taking turns firing at McKinsey.
During a plea hearing for the pair, prosecutors disclosed that McKinsey was there to see his kids. The couple has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder.
Interestingly, it came to light that McKinsey had a history of threatening his mother-in-law, even allegedly saying he might hire someone to “get rid of” her. This statement was made by Chen’s defense attorney outside the court, who claimed that the couple purchased firearms out of fear, indicating that their intention was self-defense rather than a premeditated attack.
The defense attorney asserted that Chen and Zhang never plotted McKinsey’s killing, even as tensions in the family heightened over time. According to court documents, McKinsey had also made threats against his wife and her parents, bizarrely giving his children a book about a girl who lost her mother.
In an August custody filing, McKinsey’s wife, Candice Jang, described how the family learned to handle conflicts with McKinsey, noting that they often tried to keep the peace around him to avoid stirring his anger. The couple married in 2010, but Jang filed for divorce in 2025 and also sought a restraining order against him, to which McKinsey responded with a restraining order of his own.
