Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 30
California Couple Charged in 40-Year-Old Son-in-Law's Killing, Facing Life Without Parole
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 30

California Couple Charged in 40-Year-Old Son-in-Law's Killing, Facing Life Without Parole

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 30

Summary

  • Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, were charged Wednesday with murder and related counts in the fatal shooting of their son-in-law, Jonathan McKinsey, in a Dublin, California, park.
  • Prosecutors added a special circumstance of lying in wait, alleging the couple planned the attack and waited to act; a conviction on that count would bring life without parole.
  • McKinsey, 40, was found Saturday in a park parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds. Police have not described a motive for the killing.
  • Court records show McKinsey and his wife, Candice Jang, were living separately after a turbulent marriage, and both had sought domestic violence restraining orders against each other last year.
  • McKinsey, a transgender man and engineering director in The New York Times games department, had accused his wife and in-laws of abuse tied to his identity, while Jang accused him of abusing her and their three children.

Insights

Did warning signs in a bitter custody and restraining-order battle foreshadow Jonathan McKinsey’s killing?
What evidence made prosecutors accuse a California couple of ambushing their son-in-law in a busy park parking lot?