Shili Chen and Shouyong Zhang murdered Jonathan McKinsey in hate

By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit · October 1, 2026

Shili Chen and Shouyong Zhang shot their son-in-law in a Dublin park, a hate crime masked as a family dispute that demands absolute accountability.

Shili Chen and Shouyong Zhang, both 77, are charged with murder. Their victim was Jonathan McKinsey, 40, a gaming engineer for The New York Times. The shooting happened on a Saturday in a Dublin, California parking lot. This was not a crime of passion. This was an execution.

I grew up in Flint, Michigan. I watched the 2008 crash take the houses on my block. I saw the water turn to poison when I was eighteen. I know what it looks like when the powerful decide some lives are disposable. In my generation's ledger, the pattern is always the same. The vulnerable are targeted, and the powerful try to rewrite the story to save themselves. Here, the power is familial, but the hate is systemic.

A premeditated execution in a public park

The details of the crime are chilling. ABC7 San Francisco reports that the couple took turns firing at McKinsey. The Guardian says they were detained while driving away from the scene. A police sergeant found McKinsey shot dead on the ground. Witnesses made several 911 calls to report the gunfire.

This was not a sudden flare-up of anger. Prosecutors allege the couple was lying in wait. That means they planned this. They waited for him. They chose a public park as their killing field. They brought guns to a divorce dispute.

McKinsey was a man trying to navigate a broken system. He was the director of engineering for New York Times Games. He had degrees from UC Berkeley and Georgia Tech. But none of those credentials could protect him from a hit squad in a parking lot.

The mechanism of dehumanization

The motive is written in the slurs. KOMO reports that Shili Chen called McKinsey a "disgusting queer" and a "pervert." These are not just insults. They are tools of dehumanization. When you call a person a pervert, you are telling the world they do not deserve to live.

This is the Matthew Shepard killing. The mechanism is the same: a targeted killing of a queer person fueled by hate and slurs. The perpetrators' motivations were rooted in deep-seated prejudice against LGBTQ+ identities.

The long record of anti-trans violence predicts this. Queer people are often murdered when they attempt to claim legal rights or family autonomy. For this to differ, we would need a world where a transition is not seen as a provocation for murder. Instead, we have a world where a transition is used as a justification for a firing squad.

Refusing the "both sides" trap

The defense will try to muddy the waters. SFGATE notes that the couple was in a bitter divorce. Candice Jang claimed McKinsey was abusive. She said he hit their son. She said he left a 2-year-old child alone.

The defense will use these facts to build a narrative of "protection." They will argue that McKinsey was a danger to his children. They will claim the grandparents acted to save their grandchildren from a volatile man.

We must refuse the "both sides" trap. Domestic dysfunction is a tragedy. It is not a license for a hit squad. No amount of parenting failure justifies a double execution.

McKinsey was fighting for more time with his children. He was limited to two hours of supervised visits per week. He was attempting to enter a mental health diversion program. He was a human being in a struggle. He was not a target for a premeditated killing.

Shouyong Zhang has a history of radical action. He co-founded the Rare Book Preservation Society. He helped save rare volumes from Japanese looting in Shanghai during World War II. The defense will likely argue that Zhang was acting out of a perceived need for familial protection. They will try to frame this murder as another act of preservation.

They are wrong. Saving books from a war zone is not the same as murdering a son-in-law in a park. One is an act of cultural rescue. The other is a hate crime. Justice requires that Shili Chen and Shouyong Zhang face the full weight of the law. They did not protect a family. They destroyed one. They murdered a man because of who he was. They must spend the rest of their lives paying for it.

Shili Chen and Shouyong Zhang murdered Jonathan McKinsey in hate

A premeditated execution in a public park

The mechanism of dehumanization

Refusing the "both sides" trap

Sources