California couple charged with murder in son-in-law’s killing

DUBLIN, Calif. — A 77‑year‑old couple has been charged with murder in the shooting death of their son‑in‑law, Jonathan McKinsey, a 40‑year‑old gaming technologist for The New York Times, police said. Shili Chen and Shouyong Zhang, both 77, appeared briefly in Alameda County Superior Court on Wednesday for arraignment on the charges; the hearing was postponed to Thursday. Jennie Otis, a public defender representing Zhang, declined to comment. Chen told the judge through an interpreter that she did not have the financial means to retain an attorney; Judge Diane Meier said a public defender would be assigned to her case on Thursday. According to Dublin Police Services, McKinsey was found shot to death in the parking lot of a sports complex east of San Francisco. A police sergeant driving nearby saw him on the ground as witnesses began calling 911 and pointing out the couple in their vehicle, which remained near the scene. Officers detained Chen and Zhang as they were driving away and recovered a weapon in Chen’s possession. Prosecutors said Zhang admitted to shooting McKinsey during an earlier interview, and a second firearm was found in the car that he acknowledged using in the killing. Surveillance video, they added, shows both Chen and Zhang firing at the victim. The murder charges include allegations of lying in wait and using a firearm. Court records indicate the killing occurred amid a bitter divorce between McKinsey and Jang, the couple’s daughter, and a custody dispute over their three young children. Prior restraining‑order petitions filed last year show each side accusing the other of physical, emotional and intellectual mistreatment spanning more than a decade. McKinsey, who is transgender, alleged that Jang and her parents were verbally and physically abusive concerning a sex‑assignment procedure he underwent years ago. In his own restraining‑order request, he said Chen directed anti‑LGBTQ slurs at him and his oldest child. He also claimed Jang was physically and emotionally abusive during medical procedures related to his transition and that Zhang punched him in the chest while he was recovering from a double mastectomy. McKinsey had previously been charged with misdemeanor child maltreatment. He was arrested last October after allegedly hitting their oldest son; police said he admitted slapping the child. Prosecutors additionally charged him with endangering the youngest child after deputies found the 2‑year‑old alone at the family’s residence. McKinsey pleaded not guilty, asserting in court filings that he had been set up by his wife, who left the home without telling him the child was sleeping in a crib upstairs. He was released from jail on the condition that he complete 12 parenting classes. At the time of his death, McKinsey was out on bail and attempting to enroll in a mental‑health diversion program. Jang obtained a home‑unit restraining order against McKinsey in October. In her filing she stated that in 2010 McKinsey grabbed her forearms during an argument, causing her to strike the edge of a coffee table and fracture a vertebra in her upper back. She also said that in 2023 she called police after McKinsey pushed their oldest son hard on the head, and she accused McKinsey of emotionally abusing her mother. McKinsey filed a competing restraining‑order request in December, alleging years of abuse by Jang, including being struck in the head with a frying pan. He had earlier filed for divorce and sought more time with the three children, noting that he had been limited to two hours of supervised visits per week since the previous fall, according to Alameda County court documents. In late August he was granted unsupervised visits in public twice a week. The shooting took place a week before a scheduled hearing in the divorce case. Chen and Zhang have been married since July 2011. McKinsey