A New York Times executive was gunned down in broad daylight outside a California park, allegedly by his masked 77-year-old in-laws, who took turns pulling the trigger on the transgender man they called a “monster.”
Jonathan McKinsey, 40, had spent much of his career in technology and education before joining The New York Times in January 2023, where he eventually became Head of Engineering for New York Times Games.
The transgender man had also taught computer science part time at Georgia Tech and the University of California, Berkeley, but behind his professional success, his marriage to Candice Jang was falling apart.
The couple had been married since around 2012 and shared three young children, but by late 2025, their relationship had deteriorated into a bitter legal battle that included allegations of domestic violence from both sides, according to People.
Alleged child abuse
In October 2025, Jang filed for a restraining order against McKinsey, accusing her husband of grabbing her by the forearms during an argument before dropping her onto the corner of a table, fracturing vertebrae in her upper back. She also accused him of emotionally abusing her mother.
Their troubles soon extended to allegations involving their children.
That same month, the New York Times reports that Jang told police that McKinsey had struck their 6-year-old child “in the face with an open hand.” When officers later went to the family home to contact him, they said they found the couple’s 2-year-old son alone in his crib after McKinsey had gone shopping.
“She did this on purpose, to set me up,” McKinsey claimed in the filing, suggesting his wife had not told him their toddler was sleeping upstairs before he left.
McKinsey was charged with two misdemeanor counts of child abuse in connection with the separate allegations but pleaded not guilty to both. He was released on the condition that he complete 12 parenting classes, and the charges were still pending when he died, with a pretrial hearing scheduled for October.
Allegations against his wife and in-laws
By December, McKinsey had gone to court with allegations of his own, requesting a temporary restraining order against Jang, accusing her of force feeding him a cockroach, and physical abuse requiring surgery.
“She threatened me with harm or said she would call the police and tell them I was hurting our children,” he claimed in the filing.
He also alleged he was abused by Jang’s parents – Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77 – and claimed in the filing that his mother-in-law had called him and one of his sons a “pervert” and a “monster” after the boy tried on dresses. His father-in-law, also named in the court papers, was accused of punching McKinsey in the chest in 2010 while he was recovering from double mastectomy surgery.
In December 2025, McKinsey filed for divorce from his wife, who had been granted full custody of their children.
Then, nine months later, his in-laws would be arrested in connection with his killing.
Masked couple accused in shooting
On the afternoon of Sept. 26, a Dublin police sergeant was driving near the Dublin Sports Grounds, about 35 miles east of San Francisco, when he spotted a man lying on the ground in a parking lot, the New York Times reports.
At around the same time, several 911 calls about a shooting were lighting up the lines at Dublin Police Department (DPD).
Officers found McKinsey suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, but he could not be saved and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses quickly directed police toward two people who were still in the area, and officers arrested McKinsey’s in-laws, Zhang and Chen.
The husband and wife were taken to Santa Rita Jail on suspicion of murder.
‘Personal revenge type killing’
But witnesses described an even more disturbing scene unfolding before police arrived.
According to CBS News Bay Area, several people who witnessed the shooting said a masked man shot McKinsey before handing the gun to a masked woman, who then also fired at him.
“This has all the aspects of a deeply personal revenge type killing,” legal expert, Steven Clark, told ABC7. “It’s going to be important for law enforcement to dig deep into the relationship between these parties and the victim’s wife.”
Zhang and Chen remain in custody as investigators work to determine what led to McKinsey’s death.
What do you make of this bizarre situation and the allegations surrounding the family before McKinsey’s death? Please let us know your thoughts and then share this story to get the conversation started.
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