Prosecutors: Dublin couple, 77, planned ambush that killed son-in-law

By Daniel Okafor · Reporting from New York · October 1, 2026

Prosecutors charged the 77-year-old couple with the murder of their 40-year-old son-in-law, Jonathan McKinsey. They did not seek a legal remedy for their family grievances. They chose a public execution.

A parking lot execution

The shooting happened Saturday afternoon. It was September 26, 2026. According to The Mercury News, the attack took place in the 6700 block of Dublin Boulevard. The location was the parking lot of the Dublin Sports Grounds.

Dublin police conducted a “high risk” traffic stop minutes after the killing. They arrested Zhang and Chen in a Honda Civic. Police found two guns in the car. Detective Shawn Pearson wrote that surveillance video captured the incident. The video depicted Zhang and the driver shoot the victim in concert. Zhang admitted to shooting McKinsey.

Prosecutors charged Zhang and Chen with a lying-in-wait special circumstance. This charge alleges the shooting was premeditated. The couple did not act on impulse. They planned an ambush. The Guardian reported that the killing occurred one week before a scheduled hearing in a divorce case. Judge Doris Ng had ordered that McKinsey's visits with his children occur at community locations like libraries and playgrounds. The couple waited for him there.

Hatred drove the ambush

The motive was rooted in a hatred of McKinsey's identity. McKinsey was a transgender man. He transitioned in 2010 and married Candice Jang in 2011, according to the New York Post.

McKinsey alleged in court filings that his wife tried to pull medical tubes from his chest shortly after his surgery. He accused Jang of beating him with a frying pan in 2013. He also accused her of verbally abusing their children. These claims paint a picture of a home defined by violence.

Who will protect the children?

The couple carried out this ambush while children were nearby. Detective Pearson wrote that several children were at a nearby playground during the shooting. The suspects took turns firing bullets into McKinsey.

The human cost is absolute. McKinsey's lawyer, Andrea Yah, said she was “deeply saddened” by the death. She said the children are now left without a father. The New York Post reported that Candice Jang was seen with her children hours after the arraignment. Two are ages 3 and 5. The third is 7.

Zhang and Chen appeared in a Dublin courthouse on Wednesday. Judge Diane Meier ordered Chen to return to the Alameda County courtroom Thursday to be appointed an attorney. Chen stated through a Mandarin interpreter that she did not have the financial means to hire one. Zhang is represented by public defender Jennie Otis. Both are held at the Santa Rita Jail without bail.

The contrast in the defendants' lives is stark. Shouyong Zhang shares a name with a scholar who led students to found Kwang Hua University in Shanghai in 1925. That history suggests an intellectual pedigree. The facts of this case suggest cruelty.

The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto offers no comparison. No shared causal mechanism exists between a political assassination and a domestic ambush. This was not a political act. It was a domestic one.

The couple will likely argue they acted under emotional distress. They will point to misdemeanor charges McKinsey faced for child endangerment. These facts do not excuse a planned ambush. The defendants did not act in a moment of passion. They lied in wait. They brought two guns to a playground. They shot a man in front of children. They chose to destroy a family to satisfy a grudge.

Prosecutors: Dublin couple, 77, planned ambush that killed son-in-law

A parking lot execution

Hatred drove the ambush

Who will protect the children?

Sources