Bay Area Couple, Both 77, Charged With Lying-in-Wait Murder of Transgender Son-in-Law; Held Without Bail Ahead of Oct. 19 Plea Hearing
DUBLIN, Calif. — Shouyong Zhang, 77, and Shili Chen, 77, the elderly couple charged with gunning down their son-in-law in a park parking lot in Dublin, remain held without bail at Santa Rita Jail as they await a plea hearing scheduled for October 19, according to case records. Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson announced on September 30 that both defendants face a charge of murder, a special circumstance of lying in wait, and an allegation of personal use of a firearm causing death; prosecutors say each faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
According to Dublin police and prosecutors' court filings, Jonathan McKinsey, 40, was shot multiple times in the parking lot of the Dublin Sports Grounds at about 3:05 p.m. on Saturday, September 26, and died at the scene, as children played nearby. Witnesses pointed officers to an older couple driving away; police stopped a black Honda Civic nearby and found a gun in Chen's possession and a second gun in the car that Zhang admitted was his. Prosecutors say surveillance video shows the couple shooting McKinsey "in concert," and witnesses told police the two took turns firing. Zhang admitted in a police interview that he shot McKinsey, prosecutors said; Chen invoked her Miranda rights and remained silent. Police said it was the city of Dublin's first homicide of the year, and that the couple was arrested within minutes.
The couple first appeared in court on September 30 at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin. Speaking through a Mandarin interpreter, Chen told the judge she could not afford an attorney, and a lawyer was appointed for her; Zhang waived his formal arraignment, said nothing, and was represented by public defender Jennie Otis. On October 1, both appeared briefly and asked for more time before entering formal pleas. Curtis Briggs, the court-appointed attorney for Chen, said she plans to plead not guilty and to build her defense around the abuse allegedly committed by the victim, saying court documents he reviewed showed McKinsey was "extremely violent and dangerous to his family." Otis asked the judge to order a medical evaluation of Zhang, without saying why. Both defendants required Mandarin interpreters in court.
The investigation has extended beyond the couple. Three days after the shooting, Dublin police served a search warrant at the home of McKinsey's estranged wife, Candice Jang — the defendants' daughter — seizing items including her vehicle and phone. Police have not said whether she is considered a person of interest, and she has not been charged with any crime.
McKinsey was a director of engineering for The New York Times' games division, where he headed games player experience engineering; he joined the newspaper in 2023. He held a master's degree in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, and previously worked as an engineering manager at the technology company Splunk. A transgender man, he transitioned around 2010. He married Candice Jang, Zhang and Chen's daughter, in 2011, and the couple had three young children.
Court records show a marriage in turmoil. In October 2025, Jang obtained a domestic violence protective order against McKinsey; he later sought a protective order against her and filed for divorce in December 2025. The two continued to battle over custody of their three children, and a hearing in the divorce and custody case had been scheduled for days after the shooting. In August, a judge ordered that custody exchanges take place at public "community locations" such as libraries and playgrounds, with the parents staying away from each other and not communicating during exchanges.
In dueling court filings, each side accused the other of abuse. In his petition, McKinsey alleged that while he was recovering from double mastectomy surgery, Zhang punched him in the chest; that Chen directed anti-LGBTQ slurs at him and his oldest child; and that Jang and her parents had verbally and physically abused him over his gender transition, including during medical procedures related to it. In her filings, Jang alleged that McKinsey physically and emotionally abused her and the children over many years, that he had threatened to kill her and her parents, and she cited incidents including a 2010 episode in which her forearm was grabbed and she struck the corner of a table, fracturing a vertebra, and a 2023 incident in which McKinsey forcefully pushed their eldest son's head. The filings contain each side's allegations; none has been adjudicated.
McKinsey also faced criminal charges of his own. In October 2025, Alameda County prosecutors charged him with two misdemeanor counts — corporal injury to a child and child endangering — arising in part from an allegation that he slapped his son. He pleaded not guilty and was released on conditions including parenting classes; a pretrial hearing in that case had been set for October, and prosecutors had planned to allow him into a mental health diversion program. He was out of custody when he was killed.
Police say they have not determined a motive for the shooting and that the investigation is ongoing. Both defendants have been charged but not convicted.
Related: D.C. Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Shooting Death of His Girlfriend
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 被告张寿勇（左）与陈世丽（右）的监狱登记照，阿拉米达县警长局发布；两人被控谋杀，尚未定罪
- 2026-10-14Bay Area Couple, Both 77, Charged With Lying-in-Wait Murder of Transgender Son-in-Law; Held Without Bail Ahead of Oct. 19 Plea HearingThis story
- 2026-10-19Follow-Up: Dublin Couple, Both 77, Plead Not Guilty to Murdering Son-in-Law; Bail Hearing Set for Nov. 4
