New York Times executive fatally shot; in-laws charged with murder
publishers 12articles 12first reported 29 Sep, 02:45 UTC
Jonathan McKinsey, a 40-year-old New York Times engineering executive, was found with multiple gunshot wounds in a parking lot in Dublin, California, about 35 miles east of San Francisco, police said.
Officers found McKinsey with multiple gunshot wounds outside the Dublin Sports Grounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses told KGO-TV they heard several shots, and one witness's daughter said her father saw two people walk away afterward.
Police arrested McKinsey’s parents-in-law, Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, several minutes later near the scene. They face charges including first-degree murder, felony conspiracy, willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence and child endangerment. They were being held at Santa Rita Jail and were due to appear in court Wednesday. It was unclear whether they had attorneys.
Police have not disclosed a motive. McKinsey and his wife filed for divorce in December and were involved in a child-custody dispute. Both had sought domestic-abuse restraining orders against the other, according to the BBC. The New York Times reported that McKinsey, who was transgender, had accused his in-laws of abusing him because of his gender identity.
The Times confirmed McKinsey’s death and identified him as its director of engineering for games player experience.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Reconstructed on 2 October 2026. The machine was off on this day, so no feed was read and no run took place. This edition was rebuilt afterwards from sources that keep history (Google News's dated search, GDELT, Reddit) and from articles the next runs still found, ranked as of the day's end: one edition, not the day's four runs.
Written from 2 articles, headlines and summaries only; 2 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; the editor revised it.
- Publishers
- 12
- Source articles
- 12
- Given to the writer
- 2, headlines and summaries only
- Independent newsrooms
- 2
- Second model (editor)
- revised
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and changed it before publication. Struck words were in the draft; underlined words are its corrections.
WHAT IT FLAGGED editor revise: The story needs small attribution and wording fixes to avoid overstating what police and witnesses specifically said and to avoid an ambiguous timing detail. - "was fatally shot in a parking lot in Dublin, California, about 35 miles east of San Francisco, police said.": The BBC source says police said McKinsey was found with multiple gunshot wounds in a car park in Dublin, but it does not attribute the shooting itself to police. - "Officers found McKinsey with multiple gunshot wounds outside the Dublin Sports Grounds at about 3 p.m.": The BBC source says the body was found at 15:00 on Thursday afternoon, while also saying he was found on Saturday afternoon; the story omits the sourced day and states only the time, which is potentially misleading amid the source inconsistency. - "Witnesses told KGO-TV they heard several shots and saw two people walk away afterward.": The BBC source says witnesses reported hearing a flurry of gunshots and one witness's daughter said her father saw the couple walking away; the story's generic phrasing collapses distinct witness accounts into a single unsourced formulation.
THE DRAFT AND THE CHANGES
New York Times executive fatally shot; in-laws charged with murder
Jonathan McKinsey, a 40-year-old New York Times engineering executive, was fatallyfound shotwith multiple gunshot wounds in a parking lot in Dublin, California, about 35 miles east of San Francisco, police said.
Officers found McKinsey with multiple gunshot wounds outside the Dublin Sports Grounds at about 3 p.m.Grounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses told KGO-TV they heard several shotsshots, and one witness's daughter said her father saw two people walk away afterward.
Police arrested McKinsey’s parents-in-law, Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, several minutes later near the scene. They face charges including first-degree murder, felony conspiracy, willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence and child endangerment. They were being held at Santa Rita Jail and were due to appear in court Wednesday. It was unclear whether they had attorneys.
Police have not disclosed a motive. McKinsey and his wife filed for divorce in December and were involved in a child-custody dispute. Both had sought domestic-abuse restraining orders against the other, according to the BBC. The New York Times reported that McKinsey, who was transgender, had accused his in-laws of abusing him because of his gender identity.
The Times confirmed McKinsey’s death and identified him as its director of engineering for games player experience.
Written by a language model from the sources above, then checked by a second model that may only cut, attribute or correct. How it works →