The transgender New York Times executive allegedly killed by her in-laws was “extremely rageful” toward her family prior to her death, a lawyer for the elderly couple has claimed.
The case centers around the victim, identified as Jonathan McKinsey, and the accused couple identified as her mother-in-law Shili Chen and father-in-law Shouyong Zhang, the New York Post reported Thursday.
Attorney Curtis Briggs said in court on Thursday that the victim had “rained hell on his family for years,” and “he was extremely rageful, could not control his temper, abused his wife so badly at one point he fractured her spine, abused the kids so badly that a court in Alameda County had to send him to parenting classes. McKinsey was extremely violent and dangerous to his family.”
McKinsey was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds at Dublin Sports Grounds in Dublin, California, on Saturday, and the New York Times reported that the victim “was director of engineering for the games department of the New York Times, according to a company spokesman.”
The accused elderly couple are parents of the victim’s wife, Candice Jang, per Breitbart News:
McKinsey and Jang had both filed for restraining orders against one another. McKinsey accused Jang and her parents of abuse when filing for a restraining order in December 2025, saying they allegedly abused her because of her identity. He also claimed Jang’s mother said McKinsey and one of McKinsey’s sons were perverts “after the boy tried on dresses.”
The two elderly people have been charged with murder, and Briggs said they planned to enter a not guilty plea.
“Officials say Chen and Zhang murdered McKinsey in a cold-blooded ambush-style attack where both grandparents took turns firing at him,” the Post article read. “A family member told the Post he would bet that the in-laws murdered McKinsey so Jang could have sole custody of their three kids.”
Witnesses told authorities they saw the couple shoot the victim to death, ABC 7 reported.
“In 2025, McKinsey was also charged with two counts of misdemeanor child abuse. Court documents alleged that he hit his 6-year-old son in the face. And at one point, left his then 2 year old home alone for more than an hour,” the outlet said, adding that “McKinsey pled not guilty and was expected to appear in court for this again next week.”
