NY Times Games Executive Found Fatally Shot in Parking Lot — His Wife's Parents Were in Custody Within Minutes

A Saturday afternoon at a California sports complex turned deadly when a New York Times Games engineering director was found shot in its parking lot.

Jonathan McKinsey, 40, died at the scene. What unfolded around the shooting would soon make the circumstances of his death even more unusual. McKinsey was found with several gunshot wounds in the parking lot of the Dublin Sports Grounds in Dublin, California, on Saturday, September 26, 2026.

His wife's parents, Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, were arrested on suspicion of murder, Fox News reported. The married couple, both Dublin residents, was booked into Santa Rita Jail.

A Sergeant's Discovery Came as 911 Calls Began

The police response began at about 3:08 p.m. A Dublin Police Services sergeant driving near the sports grounds at 6700 Dublin Blvd. saw a man lying in the parking lot, according to an official City of Dublin report.

The sergeant stopped to investigate. At about the same time, dispatchers began receiving multiple 911 calls reporting the incident. Additional officers and emergency medical personnel responded.

Officers found McKinsey in the middle of the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A Witness Said He Saw McKinsey Collapse

Assad Razawi said he was leaving Sahara Market on Dublin Boulevard when he heard gunshots coming from the sports grounds parking lot, according to ABC7 Eyewitness News.

Razawi said he then saw McKinsey collapse. "I saw the guy drop to the floor. Head bloody and chest bloody," he said.

Razawi also said he saw two people whom he later learned were suspects leaving the area. His daughter, Mal Razawi, described what her father told her about the pair.

"He said the man and woman and walking together and they casually walk away from the shooting," she said. Razawi's daughter also described her own reaction to the killing.

"That's crazy. You don't hear of these stories in Dublin," she said. "I was shocked. The whole thing is baffling. Personally, we don't hear of crime that often in Dublin."

The official police account provides another specific detail about where the suspects were when officers responded.

The Suspects Had Remained Nearby

Police said Zhang and Chen had remained nearby after the shooting. With assistance from witnesses, officers located and detained them within minutes, according to the official account.

Authorities identified Zhang and Chen as McKinsey's parents-in-law. Both were arrested on suspicion of murder. Police credited witnesses and community members with helping responding officers.

"DPS thanks the witnesses and community members who assisted responding officers; their cooperation was critical to the swift arrest of the suspects," officials said.

Authorities said there were no outstanding suspects and no known threat to public safety. Detectives are continuing to examine evidence surrounding McKinsey's death. No possible motive has been publicly released.

Zhang and Chen are scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday, September 30, at 9 a.m., at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin.

McKinsey and His Wife Were Fighting Over Custody

McKinsey and his wife, Candice Jang, had been involved in a series of legal disputes during the year before his death.

Alameda County court records reviewed by SFGate show Jang sought a domestic violence restraining order against McKinsey in October 2025. McKinsey sought a restraining order against Jang in December. He also filed for divorce that month.

The couple continued litigating child custody in 2026. The custody dispute was still active when McKinsey was killed.

The Mercury News reported that another court hearing was scheduled for Friday, October 2. The dispute included competing allegations of abuse and claims questioning each parent's ability to care for the children.

Jang alleged in a restraining-order filing that McKinsey struck one of her sons in the face during an argument over Legos. She claimed the incident left a "very large bruise the shape of a handprint."

Court records cited in the report also say Jang told investigators that McKinsey had grabbed her wrist during a 2018 incident and left her bruised.

Dublin police later opened a criminal investigation into allegations involving McKinsey. Officers also alleged they found McKinsey's 2-year-old child alone at home while he was out shopping.

Alameda County prosecutors subsequently charged McKinsey with two misdemeanors: cruelty to a child by endangering health and corporal injury to a child.

McKinsey Pleaded Not Guilty

Online court records reviewed by People show McKinsey pleaded not guilty to the charges in October 2025. He was later released on $50,000 bail.

At the time of his death, records cited in the reporting show McKinsey was seeking entry into a mental health diversion program. Successful completion of the program would have resulted in the charges being dismissed.

The custody proceedings contained further allegations from Jang. An attorney representing her alleged in a filing that McKinsey "is simply prone to domestic violence and child abuse."

Jang also wrote in a filing the month before his death: "Due to his violent and negligent history, our children are simply not safe when left unsupervised and in his care."

Those statements were allegations made in contested court proceedings. McKinsey made serious allegations against Jang as well.

McKinsey Accused His Wife of Abuse

In his December 2025 request for a restraining order, McKinsey alleged that Jang had abused him for years. He claimed that during one incident in 2013, Jang beat him with a frying pan. He also accused her of verbally denigrating their children.

His filing included allegations involving Chen, Jang's mother and one of the two suspects arrested after McKinsey's death. McKinsey alleged that Chen verbally abused one of the couple's young children over the child's choice of clothing.

The filing also described tensions involving McKinsey's gender identity. McKinsey, who transitioned from female to male in 2010, alleged that Chen directed anti-LGBTQ slurs at him and one of the children.

McKinsey separately accused Jang of abusive conduct during medical procedures related to his transition. He alleged that after one procedure, she attempted to pull medical tubes from his body.

Outside those court proceedings, McKinsey had built a career in software engineering that eventually brought him to The New York Times.

Inside McKinsey's Role at NYT Games

At the time of his death, McKinsey held a senior engineering role within The New York Times' Games operation. His LinkedIn profile lists him as director of engineering for Games Player Experience beginning in December 2025.

McKinsey described leading 22 engineers and three engineering managers across three teams. The organization included front-end, full-stack, backend, iOS, and Android engineers.

McKinsey said his responsibilities included developing new features and driving monetization for live Games products serving tens of millions of players each day. He also described work involving artificial intelligence and engineering management practices.

Projects listed under his director role included the Badges Achievement System, Bonus Puzzles, Puzzle Hub, and Native Personalized Headline Cards.

McKinsey had worked within the Games organization since January 2023. He previously served as senior engineering manager for the Games Platform, where his profile listed projects including Crossplay, Connections, and Pips, along with platform, reliability, and infrastructure work.

He later became senior engineering manager for Games Player Experience before moving into the director position.

Before joining the newspaper, McKinsey held engineering and management positions at Splunk, UKG, Coursera, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. His profile also lists earlier experience at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Georgia Institute of Technology.

McKinsey earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from Georgia Tech and a master's degree in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. His recent LinkedIn activity offered a glimpse into his thinking about work and life.

About a month before his death, engineering manager Zach White asked his LinkedIn network, "What actually comes first? Title, or fulfillment?"

McKinsey responded: "No one on their death bed said I wish I'd worked more. Having boundaries between your work and life makes you a better leader."

Around the same time, NYT Games engineer Nicole Zhu announced that her team had launched Free Crossword Week, temporarily opening the Mini, Midi, and Daily Crosswords to nonsubscribers. McKinsey congratulated her in the comments: "Congrats Nicole Zhu on the launch!"

After his death, that exchange took on a different tone. Nathan Wu, whose LinkedIn profile in the thread identifies him with UC Berkeley, replied directly beneath McKinsey's comment: "rip buddy."

McKinsey is the latest prominent business or technology professional whose killing has attracted attention, though the circumstances surrounding each case were markedly different.

Cash App creator Bob Lee was fatally stabbed in San Francisco in April 2023. Lee, 43, was chief product officer at MobileCoin when he was killed. A jury later convicted tech consultant Nima Momeni of second-degree murder in his death, according to the Associated Press.

In December 2024, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed outside a Manhattan hotel before his company's investor conference. Luigi Mangione later pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with Thompson's killing, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

Another case drew attention in New York this year. Bank of America Vice President Erin Piacenti, 32, was fatally stabbed in Times Square on August 31, according to Spectrum News NY1. Police described the attack as random and unprovoked.