40-year-old Jonathan McKinsey, who worked as an executive at The New York Times newspaper in the US state of California, died after being attacked with a gun in the parking lot of a sports complex on Saturday. While the murder in Dublin, east of San Francisco, quickly became the center of the investigation, the details behind the incident attracted attention.
EYEWITNESSES POINTED ON 2 PEOPLE
According to CNN International, McKinsey was in the parking lot of the sports complex at the time of the incident. A police sergeant who was nearby saw him on the ground and headed to the scene. Eyewitnesses also called 911 and reported the attack and pointed out to police teams two people who were in the area immediately after the incident.
Shortly after, McKinsey's 77-year-old father-in-law Shouyong Zhang and 77-year-old mother-in-law Shili Chen were detained. While the couple living in Dublin was detained on murder and other charges, their connection with McKinsey was also revealed in the later stages of the investigation.
ATTRACTIVE TIMING
The timing of the incident made the investigation even more remarkable. About a week after McKinsey's murder, a critical hearing was scheduled for his ongoing divorce case with his wife, Candice Jang. The couple had been married since about 2012 and had three young children.
Court records indicated a serious, long-standing rift within the family.
'HE WAS USING PHYSICAL VIOLENCE ON HIS CHILDREN'
Jang reported McKinsey to the police in 2023, claiming that her husband pushed one of their children and generally used physical violence against children.
In October last year, Jang obtained a domestic violence protection order against McKinsey. This development comes after McKinsey was detained and faced misdemeanor charges related to child abuse in a separate incident.
McKinsey admitted to slapping one of the children, according to police records. He was also charged with child endangerment in connection with another child. McKinsey, who was out on bail at the time of his death, was reportedly trying to get him into a mental health diversion program.
HE FILED A DIVORCE CASE
However, there was another noteworthy detail in the file. Following his wife's application to the court, McKinsey also requested a protection order against domestic violence against Jang and filed for divorce.
McKinsey, who later applied to spend more time with her three children, stated that she had been able to have only two hours of supervised contact with her children a week since last fall.
HE WAS WORKING AS A MANAGER
The profession of McKinsey, who was the victim of the murder, was one of the striking details of the incident. McKinsey joined The New York Times in January 2023. McKinsey, who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, was serving as engineering director for the New York Times Games, according to the newspaper. A spokesperson for The New York Times confirmed McKinsey's death but had no further comment on the investigation.
THE REAL REASON IS BEING INVESTIGATED
The police did not make a final statement regarding the exact cause of the murder. However, the fact that the incident occurred during the ongoing divorce with McKinsey's wife and the struggle over the custody of the children caused the investigation to focus on disagreements within the family.
