A technology executive who helped lead the New York Times’ popular games division was allegedly shot and killed in broad daylight by his elderly parents-in-law, police say.
Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, are accused of fatally shooting their 40-year-old son-in-law, Jonathan McKinsey, in the parking lot of Dublin Sports Grounds in Dublin, California, on Saturday.
McKinsey, who had served as the New York Times’ head of engineering for games player experience since 2023, sustained multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene, according to police.
Witnesses told investigators that two masked attackers approached McKinsey and took turns firing repeatedly before calmly leaving the parking lot, the New York Post reported.
Images showed the suspects being detained beside a roadway after witnesses reportedly alerted a nearby police sergeant and helped direct officers to them.
Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive for the daytime shooting. Zhang and Chen were booked into Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail, where they are being held without bail.
The couple face multiple charges, including murder, felony conspiracy, child endangerment and unlawfully or dangerously firing a gun.
Police say elderly Bay Area residents Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, allegedly took turns shooting their son-in-law, New York Times games executive Jonathan McKinsey, in a broad daylight attack Saturday.
Jonathan McKinsey, 40, who led engineering for games at the New York Times, was fatally shot in a California parking lot Saturday.
Court records cited by the San Francisco Chronicle show that McKinsey was charged last year with two misdemeanor counts of child abuse by prosecutors in Alameda County.
According to a probable cause declaration, a woman told police that her husband, identified as McKinsey, had struck her six-year-old son in the face with an open hand.
She also described an alleged domestic violence incident in 2018, claiming that McKinsey bruised her after grabbing her left arm.
Deputies responding to that incident reportedly found a two-year-old child unattended in an upstairs bedroom after McKinsey had left the home to go shopping.
McKinsey pleaded not guilty in both cases and was released on bail on the condition that he complete 12 parenting classes.
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Investigators have not said whether they believe those earlier allegations were connected to Saturday’s fatal shooting. The attack occurred at about 3 p.m., after the tech executive was confronted in the parking lot of a Dublin Sports Grounds store.
Witness Assad Razawi told ABC7 that he heard several shots from across the parking lot before seeing McKinsey collapse.
“His head and chest were bloody,” Razawi said.
McKinsey had been the New York Times’ head of engineering for games player experience since 2023.
Witnesses said the couple calmly walked away after the shooting and were later tracked to a black sedan, pictured, at a nearby intersection.
McKinsey’s daughter, Mal, said they later saw “a man and a woman walking together and casually walk away from the shooting.”
A police sergeant who was driving nearby saw McKinsey laying on the ground, police said, and officers were scrambled to the parking lot.
Razawi told the San Francisco Chronicle that other witnesses saw two shooters calmly walking away, and they were found in a black sedan at a nearby intersection.
Authorities have not said what led up to the shooting, but have confirmed that the suspects are McKinsey’s in-laws.
A neighbor of the McKinsey family told the Chronicle that Jonathan had recently moved out of the home he shared with his wife and three children.
Another neighbor said a detective had knocked on her door asking about the family on Saturday night, hours after McKinsey was shot dead.
A spokesperson for the New York Times confirmed to the New York Post that McKinsey had been employed as head of games at the company since 2023.
Before helming the Times’ games platform, McKinsey was engineering manager at Splunk, and he had previously studied at UC Berkeley.
Zhang and Chen are being held in jail without bail, and their arraignment has been scheduled for Wednesday.