Jonathan McKinsey was a talented and accomplished 40-year-old man dedicated to his work as the Head of Engineering for Games Player Experience at The New York Times, a position he had held since January 2023. A graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology with a master's degree in computer science from UC Berkeley, he had previously worked as an engineering manager at Splunk.
Beyond his professional life, Jonathan was a father to three young children, and his life was marked by a deeply personal journey as a transgender man.
The last year of Jonathan's life was shadowed by a contentious divorce and a bitter custody battle over his children. He and his wife had been married for 14 years before he filed for divorce in December 2025. The court records from their dispute reveal a marriage filled with tension and competing claims of abuse from both sides. Jonathan alleged that his wife and her parents were physically and verbally abusive, particularly regarding his gender transition. In court filings, he claimed his father-in-law had punched him in the chest as he recovered from double mastectomy surgery and that his mother-in-law, Shili Chen, had directed anti-LGBTQ+ slurs at him and one of his children. Concurrently, Jonathan was facing misdemeanor charges of child abuse, to which he had pleaded not guilty. A judge had recently granted him unsupervised public visits with his children, and a hearing in the divorce case was scheduled for the week after his death.
On the afternoon of Saturday, September 26, 2026, Jonathan McKinsey was in the parking lot of the Dublin Sports Grounds on Dublin Boulevard. The park was busy with children and families. Around 3 p.m., as stunned bystanders looked on, two people opened fire on him. Witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots and seeing a man and a woman shooting him. A Dublin police sergeant driving nearby saw Jonathan on the ground just as 911 calls began flooding dispatch. First responders arrived to find he had sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The response from law enforcement was immediate. Witnesses pointed out the suspects' vehicle, a Honda Civic, as it was driving away in the parking lot. Police conducted a "high risk" traffic stop and arrested Jonathan’s parents-in-law, Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77 years old. According to police, Chen was found with one of the suspected murder weapons in her possession. A second firearm was later discovered during a search of their car. Surveillance video from the parking lot reportedly captured the incident, depicting both Zhang and Chen shooting Jonathan in concert.
Prosecutors from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged both Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen with murder. The charges included enhancements for the intentional discharge of a firearm and a special circumstance of lying in wait, which could result in a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if they are convicted. At their arraignment, Zhang was represented by a public defender, while Chen stated through a Mandarin interpreter that she could not afford to hire her own attorney. Both pleaded not guilty and remain held at the Santa Rita Jail without bail.
The killing, the first homicide in the city of Dublin that year, sent shockwaves through the quiet community. Jonathan’s lawyer in the family law case, Andrea Yah, expressed that she was "deeply saddened" by his death and described the situation as a "true tragedy, particularly for the three children now left without a father." She trusted that the justice system would hold those responsible for his "senseless death accountable." The defense attorney for Shili Chen described his client as a "loving, devoted grandmother" and pointed to court records alleging Jonathan had been abusive, stating he had a reputation for being "extremely violent, volatile, rageful, and he was a dangerous person." As of October 2026, the case was proceeding through the court system.
