Jonathan McKinsey, a 40-year-old Dublin resident who served as director of engineering for games player experience at The New York Times, was found fatally shot Saturday afternoon in a public parking lot beside a busy East Bay sports complex. McKinsey joined The New York Times in 2023 and later led engineering work supporting the company’s popular games, including puzzle titles used by millions of players. He previously held engineering roles at Oracle, Coursera, and Splunk.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. A Times official confirmed his employment, his Bay Area base, and his death. The shooting occurred about 3:08 p.m. on Saturday, September 26, 2026, in the parking lot of Dublin Sports Grounds at 6700 Dublin Boulevard, an athletic complex and playground near City Hall and the police station.
A Dublin Police Services sergeant driving nearby spotted a man lying on the pavement and stopped. Around the same time, dispatchers received multiple 911 calls from people at the park. Officers found McKinsey in the middle of the lot with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses directed officers to two people who had remained nearby. Within minutes, police detained Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77 and Dublin residents. Police identified the married couple as McKinsey’s parents-in-law, the parents of his wife, Candice Jang. Both were arrested on suspicion of murder and booked into Santa Rita Jail.
They were being held without bail. Booking records and subsequent reporting listed additional allegations against both, including conspiracy, willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and child endangerment likely to produce great bodily injury or death. Some records described the murder allegation as first-degree. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said it was reviewing the investigation.
An arraignment was scheduled for Wednesday morning at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin. Police said there were no outstanding suspects and no known threat to public safety. Detectives continued examining evidence to determine the circumstances of the homicide. Anyone with information was asked to contact DPS Sergeant Ahmad Mateen.
Witness accounts varied and have not been independently confirmed by investigators as complete facts. Dublin resident Assad Razawi told local outlets he heard five or six gunshots, then saw a man drop to the ground with blood on his head and chest. Razawi said he saw a man and a woman walk away at a normal pace. His daughter said her father saw the pair walking together and then casually leaving the area.
Other witnesses told local television that two masked people approached McKinsey, that a man fired, handed a gun to a woman, and that she also fired. Police have not confirmed who fired, whether the suspects wore masks, or the precise sequence of shots. Court records show McKinsey and Jang, who married in 2011 in Texas, were living separately and litigating divorce and custody involving their three young children. In October 2025, Jang sought a domestic violence prevention order against McKinsey.
Court records state the request was granted. In her filing she alleged years of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse toward her and the children and described specific incidents, including striking their 6-year-old son multiple times, pushing a child so that the child’s head struck the floor, and pulling a daughter so that her head struck a baby gate. Those claims remain allegations.
That same month, Alameda County prosecutors charged McKinsey with two misdemeanor counts of child abuse, described in records as cruelty to a child by endangering health and corporal injury to a child. A probable cause declaration stated Jang reported that McKinsey struck their 6-year-old son in the face with an open hand. She also described a 2018 incident in which she said he grabbed her arm and left a bruise.
Deputies who responded found a 2-year-old child unattended in an upstairs bedroom while McKinsey had gone shopping, according to the declaration. McKinsey pleaded not guilty. He was released on the condition that he complete 12 parenting classes. A pretrial hearing had been scheduled for the following month.
The charges had not been resolved in court and had not been proven. In December 2025, McKinsey filed his own request for a temporary restraining order against Jang. In that filing he alleged she regularly abused their children and, in past arguments, slammed a mirror on his head and hit him in the head with a frying pan. He also filed for divorce that month.
His filing stated Jang had been granted full custody. The couple continued litigating custody in 2026. A family law status conference had been set for October 2. McKinsey’s allegations against Jang likewise remain unproven.
Police have not established that the family court disputes, restraining-order requests, or prior child-abuse allegations caused the shooting. Dublin Police Services Captain Miguel Campos said part of the investigation involved looking for motives from all angles and reviewing the histories and relationships of everyone involved. Officials have not announced a motive. No public statements from Jang, from attorneys for Zhang and Chen, or from other family members were immediately available.
The investigation remained active as of Monday evening.
