Parents accused of taking turns fatally shooting their son-in-law months after his child abuse arrest

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An elderly couple in California have been accused of taking turns fatally shooting their son-in-law months after he was arrested for alleged child abuse .

The body of 40-year-old Jonathan McKinsey was found Saturday afternoon near a park in Dublin, about a 40-minute drive southeast of San Francisco . A police officer made the grim discovery while driving near the Dublin Sports Grounds at around 3 p.m., local time.

McKinsey, an employee for The New York Times , was found in the middle of a parking lot in broad daylight with multiple gunshot wounds, according to police.

Police identified McKinsey’s in-laws, Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, as the suspects in his murder. Witnesses told local media that the couple took turns shooting McKinsey.

"There were kids and families, just like you see now," Dublin resident Kevin Stein said in a report by local outlet KTVU . "This parking lot is full on a Saturday…It's incredible that they'd just do that right in front of everybody."

With the help of witnesses, police officers found the elderly couple nearby within minutes and took them into custody.

Both were arrested on suspicion of murder and booked into a local jail. They remained in jail as of Monday afternoon.

McKinsey was the director of engineering for New York Times Games and had been at the company since 2023, a Times spokesperson told The Independent .

Last year, McKinsey was charged with two counts of misdemeanor child abuse, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing court records.

A woman had reported to Dublin police that her husband, identified as McKinsey, hit her six-year-old son in the face with an open hand, according to a probable cause declaration. The woman also told the cops about an incident in 2018 when McKinsey allegedly grabbed her arm and left a bruise, the Chronicle reported.

When police arrived at McKinsey’s home after receiving the woman’s call, they discovered a two-year-old had been left unattended while McKinsey went shopping, according to the probable cause declaration.

McKinsey pleaded not guilty and was released from jail on the condition that he complete parenting classes, the Chronicle reported.

Police have yet to reveal a possible motive for the shooting, and it’s not clear if the previously reported charges had anything to do with Saturday’s violence.

The Independent has reached out to the city of Dublin for comment on the shooting.