Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen

Introduction

Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen are a married couple, both 77 years old, charged with murdering their son-in-law, Jonathan McKinsey, a 40-year-old New York Times technology executive, in a broad-daylight shooting at the Dublin Sports Grounds parking lot in Dublin, California, on the afternoon of Saturday, September 26, 2026. The couple was arrested nearby within minutes of the shooting and booked into Santa Rita Jail early the next morning, and investigators are examining a possible revenge motive rooted in child-abuse and domestic-violence allegations against the victim.

Background Information

Zhang and Chen lived in the Dublin area and also had ties to Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to The Post. Their daughter, Candice Jang, was married to McKinsey, who had led engineering for the Times’s games operation since early 2023 — most recently as head of engineering for games player experience — after earlier roles at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Oracle, Coursera, UKG and Splunk. A Times spokesman confirmed his employment and death. Witnesses described two masked assailants approaching McKinsey, taking turns firing shots, and being quickly taken into custody by a passing officer.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged, not tried. Zhang and Chen face charges of murder, conspiracy, willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and child abuse. They have not been tried, and everything described below is an allegation or an investigative claim unless it is a court record. Both gave interviews to police, the contents of which have not been made public, and neither has publicly offered a defense.

A Dublin police sergeant driving near the city’s sports complex spotted a man lying on the ground in the parking lot at around 3 p.m. Saturday while dispatchers were simultaneously receiving 911 calls, according to police. Officers found McKinsey with multiple gunshot wounds; first responders could not save him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police identified the couple as the shooters, arrested them nearby on suspicion of murder, and said they believe there are no other suspects and no continuing threat to public safety.

The couple was booked into Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail early Sunday, where haunting booking photographs show the white-haired pair in custody. Booking records reviewed by The Post list first-degree murder, felony conspiracy, dangerously firing a gun, and child endangerment that could have caused major injury or death among the charges they face.

Investigators have zeroed in on a family conflict as the possible motive. Court and law-enforcement records show McKinsey was charged in 2025 with two misdemeanor counts of child abuse by Alameda County prosecutors after Jang told Dublin police he had hit her six-year-old son in the face with an open hand, and she separately reported a 2018 domestic-violence incident in which he bruised her left arm. When police responded to that complaint, a deputy found the couple’s two-year-old child alone in an upstairs room while McKinsey was out shopping. Sources close to the investigation told The Post it is possible the in-laws opened fire as retribution for alleged misdeeds against the child and Jang.

Days before the shooting, a message reading “Jon, hope everything is going well. Hope you can visit us when you have some free time. Mom and Dad love you and miss you” was published on McKinsey’s Facebook page. A police spokesman said the motive investigation remains open.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The killing drew immediate national attention for its sheer strangeness — an elderly couple accused of gunning down a Silicon Valley–bred tech executive in front of weekend crowds. “This place is busy on a Saturday,” witness Kevin Stein of Dublin told KTVU. “It’s incredible that they’d just do that right in front of everybody.” The Post’s exclusive reporting on the revenge theory, along with the release of the couple’s mugshots, was carried widely across cable news and social media within a day of the arrests.

Current Status

Zhang and Chen remain in custody at Santa Rita Jail facing the murder, conspiracy, firearm and child-abuse charges. The Dublin Sports Grounds, closed during the investigation, has since reopened to the public. Dublin Police Services say the search for a definitive motive continues from “all angles”; no trial date has been reported, and the couple’s statements to police have not been disclosed.

Impact on Their Career/Life

At 77, both face charges that could confine them for the rest of their lives if they were to be convicted. McKinsey, a Berkeley-educated engineer nearly two decades into a career that included scaling the infrastructure behind viral NYT Games hits like Connections, was dead at 40, leaving a widow and two young children. The case stands as an extreme end point of a family dispute that court records show had been escalating since at least 2018.

Sources

• *New York Post, “Cops eye possible motive for slaying of New York Times tech exec after interviewing his in-laws — as haunting mugshots released”, 28 September 2026 — source
• *New York Post, “New York Times’ tech exec is shot dead by his elderly Chinese in-laws”, 28 September 2026 — source
• *Los Angeles Times, “New York Times executive fatally shot by in-laws in California, police say”, 28 September 2026 — source