New York Times games engineer killed by in-laws in Dublin: police

DUBLIN, Calif. - The 40-year-old man killed near a Dublin park, allegedly by his in-laws – who witnesses said took turns shooting at him – was a New York Times games engineer who had previously been charged with child abuse. 

The New York Times confirmed to KTVU that McKinsey was the head engineer of the "Games Player Experience." 

New York Times engineer

What we know:

McKinsey was shot to death on Saturday in the parking lot of Dublin Sports Grounds – a popular park – and his 76-year-old in-laws, Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen — were arrested shortly after near the crime scene. 

The couple is set to be arraigned on Wednesday, likely on first-degree murder charges, jail records indicate. Records also show they were arrested on suspicion of a willful discharge of a firearm and child abuse. The child abuse allegation was not immediately spelled out in the records. 

The couple is being held without bail. 

Efforts to reach the couple on Monday or determine if they had an attorney were not immediately successful.

McKinsey's LinkedIn page also states that he earned a master's in computer science at UC Berkeley, and a bachelor's of science from Georgia Institute of Technology. Before the New York Times, his LinkedIn Profile stated he had been an engineering manager at Splunk. 

Prior charges

Dig deeper:

Alameda County court records show McKinsey was charged in 2025 with two misdemeanor counts of child abuse.

According to a probable cause statement, his wife reported he struck her 6-year-old son in the face with an open hand. She also reported a 2018 domestic violence incident in which McKinsey allegedly grabbed her left arm, leaving a bruise.

That same day, deputies went to McKinsey's home and found a 2-year-old girl upstairs who had been left without supervision, according to the statement. Deputies said McKinsey had left the child alone for more than an hour while he went shopping.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that he pleaded not guilty to those charges and was ordered to complete 12 parenting classes.

SFGate reported that McKinsey's wife sought a restraining order against him in 2025, and he sought one against her three months later.

Divorce and custody battle

McKinsey, who had three children with his wife, filed for divorce last year after 14 years of marriage. Under a temporary restraining order, a judge granted the wife legal and physical custody of the children, but last month a judge allowed McKinsey to have unsupervised public visits with them.

Questions remain

What we don't know:

It is not clear whether McKinsey's past was directly related to his death, and authorities have not revealed what prompted his in-laws to shoot him on that particular weekend afternoon.

Witnesses were shocked over the location of the killing.

"There were kids and families, just like you see now," said Kevin Stein, a Dublin resident. "This parking lot is full on a Saturday. I mean this place is busy on a Saturday. It's incredible that they'd just do that right in front of everybody."

KTVU legal analyst Michael Cardoza said defense attorneys could argue for a manslaughter charge, claiming the accused couple acted in the "heat of passion" due to alleged abuse of their daughter.

"I would imagine the government's going to argue at some point they did premeditate this," Cardoza said. "They brought a gun to the park certainly with what seems to be the intent to kill their son-in-law."

The city of Dublin issued a statement saying officials were deeply saddened by the shooting, adding that "incidents like this are rare in our community. Dublin remains a safe place to live, work, and visit."

DublinCrime and Public Safety