New York Times Executive Shooting

The story so far

As of September 28, 2026

A 40-year-old New York Times engineering executive, Jonathan McKinsey, was shot multiple times and killed in the parking lot of the Dublin Sports Grounds in California shortly after 3 p.m. on Saturday. A patrol sergeant spotted him on the ground at 6700 Dublin Boulevard as 911 calls came in, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. McKinsey was the director of engineering for New York Times Games and had worked at the company since 2023.

Police detained two suspects within minutes nearby: McKinsey’s in-laws, 77-year-old Shouyong Zhang and 77-year-old Shili Chen, a married couple who live in Dublin. They were booked into Santa Rita Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder, conspiracy, willfully firing a gun with gross negligence, and child endangerment, and are being held without bail. Their first court appearance, where charges are read, is set for Wednesday. Authorities say there are no outstanding suspects and no ongoing threat to the public.

Witnesses at the park described two masked shooters, a man who fired first and then handed the gun to a woman who also fired, before the pair walked away at a normal pace. Investigators have not said which suspect, if either, pulled the trigger, or what led up to the shooting. The sports complex was briefly closed during the investigation and later reopened.

This killing now sits at the intersection of a family conflict and a homicide case. Court records show a year of domestic and child-custody litigation around the victim: a temporary restraining order granted to his wife last October, a competing restraining order and a divorce filing by McKinsey in December, misdemeanor charges filed against him last fall for child endangerment and striking a child, and a court-approved private custody evaluator in August. The arrests of the in-laws shift the focus from finding a suspect to establishing motive and sequence, and the added child-endangerment counts against the couple put a spotlight on whether a child was present or placed at risk during the shooting. What matters next is what prosecutors lay out in charging documents on Wednesday and what evidence clarifies planning, roles, and any link between the family-court disputes and the public killing.