DUBLIN, Calif. (AP) — A California couple has been charged with murder after authorities say they shot their son-in-law to death Saturday in a public park, days before he and the couple's daughter were set for a hearing in a bitter divorce case.
Shili Chen and Shouyong Zhang, both 77, were due in court Wednesday for an arraignment on the charges. The Associated Press was not able to reach an attorney for the couple prior to the court appearance. Their daughter, Candice Jang, could not be reached, though she appeared briefly virtually in the courtroom where her parents were set to be arraigned Wednesday.
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This undated booking photo provided by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, shows Shouyong Zhang. (Alameda County Sheriff's Office via AP)
This undated booking photo provided by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, shows Shili Chen. (Alameda County Sheriff's Office via AP)
A parking lot at Dublin Sports Grounds is seen in Dublin, Calif., Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Sarah Dussault/Bay Area News Group)
The Dublin Sports Grounds sign is seen in Dublin, Calif., Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Sarah Dussault/Bay Area News Group)
Jonathan McKinsey, a 40-year-old gaming engineer for The New York Times, was shot to death in the parking lot of a sports complex in Dublin, east of San Francisco. A police sergeant was driving nearby and saw him on the ground as witnesses began calling 911 and pointing out the couple in their vehicle, who were still near the scene, Dublin Police Services said in a news release.
Police detained the couple as they were driving away in the parking lot and found a gun in Chen's possession. Prosecutors said Zhang admitted to shooting McKinsey during a later interview, and another firearm was found in the car that he admitted to using during the crime.
Prosecutors also said surveillance video was recovered showing both Chen and Zhang shooting the victim.
Chen and Zhang's murder charges included additional allegations of lying in wait and using a firearm.
Court records show McKinsey's killing came during a contentious divorce with Jang and a custody battle over the couple's three young children. In petitions for restraining orders filed last year, the couple accused each other of physical, emotional and psychological abuse going back more than a decade. McKinsey, who is transgender, alleged that both Jang and her parents were verbally and physically abusive regarding a gender transition he underwent years ago.
In his petition for a protection order, McKinsey alleged that Chen had directed anti-LGBTQ slurs at him and his oldest child.
He also accused Jang of being physically and emotionally abusive during medical procedures related to his transition. He alleged Zhang punched him in the chest while he was recovering from double mastectomy surgery.
McKinsey was arrested last October and charged with misdemeanor child abuse for allegedly hitting their oldest son. Police said he acknowledged having slapped the child. Prosecutors also charged him with endangering their youngest child after deputies responded to the family’s home to talk with him and found their 2-year-old had been left home alone, according to court documents.
McKinsey pleaded not guilty to the charges and alleged in court records that he had been set up by his wife, who had left the house without telling him the child was sleeping in a crib upstairs. He was released from jail on the condition that he complete 12 parenting classes. At the time of his killing, McKinsey was out on bail and had been trying to enter a mental health diversion program.
It was also in October that Jang obtained a domestic violence protection order against McKinsey.
Jang said in her filing that in 2010 McKinsey had grabbed her by the forearms during one argument and caused her to hit the corner of a coffee table, fracturing a vertebra in her upper back. She also said that in 2023 she called the police to their home after McKinsey pushed their oldest son hard on the head. Jang also accused McKinsey of emotionally abusing her mother.
McKinsey in December filed his own request for domestic violence protection against Jang, alleging years of abuse that included her hitting him in the head with a frying pan. He later filed for divorce and sought more time with the three children, noting that he had been limited to two hours of supervised visits per week since last fall, Alameda County court documents show.
In late August, McKinsey was granted unsupervised visits in public twice a week.
The killing occurred a week before a hearing was scheduled in McKinsey and Jang’s divorce case. The couple had been married since July 2011.
McKinsey joined The New York Times in January 2023. He was director of engineering for New York Times Games and based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the paper said. A spokesperson declined to comment further.
This undated booking photo provided by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, shows Shouyong Zhang. (Alameda County Sheriff's Office via AP)
This undated booking photo provided by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, shows Shili Chen. (Alameda County Sheriff's Office via AP)
A parking lot at Dublin Sports Grounds is seen in Dublin, Calif., Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Sarah Dussault/Bay Area News Group)
The Dublin Sports Grounds sign is seen in Dublin, Calif., Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Sarah Dussault/Bay Area News Group)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday plans for South Korea to invest roughly $54 billion to export natural gas from Alaska, a project long backed by Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who's in a competitive reelection contest there.
It marks the second time in three days that the president has sought to highlight the promise of foreign investment made possible by his administration's trade policy in states where Republican Senate candidates are in tight election campaigns.
Trump made a similar announcement on Monday in the Oval Office for a massive steel plant in Iowa.
“He’s got my ear, and he’s had my ear for a long time on Alaska," Trump said during an Oval Office event with Sullivan. The president added that "all these energy projects are all mine, and I got ’em done working with Dan Sullivan.”
It was not clear how quickly South Korea's government would approve the project and how much it planned to spend.
The investment comes from pledges made as part of a 2025 trade deal with South Korea, which included promises of $350 billion in U.S. investments in exchange for lower U.S. tariffs on South Korean cars, auto parts and other products.
Without providing those details, Trump credited his tariffs for making the announcement possible, saying “our trade agreement with South Korea, they have to invest hundreds of billions of dollars.”
“For doing that, I reduced their tariffs to 15%. But they paid to get them reduced,” Trump said. "And, part of that money is going into this project.”
Sullivan said “the sky is the limit when we get this project done.”
“Mr. President, this one is huge for Alaska,” Sullivan said, adding that he'd been working on it “relentlessly.”
The project consists of an 807-mile (1,300-kilometer) natural gas pipeline connecting Alaska’s North Slope to a liquified natural gas export terminal in southern Alaska and eventually will reduce energy costs for the state’s residents by providing a reliable and secure supply, the White House said.
Officials said during the Oval Office event that building the pipeline will take three years and that exports of liquified natural gas would begin two years after that — but that was dependent on financing coming through fully.
The push to deliver big projects in areas where GOP candidates could use a boost comes as Trump's approval ratings have sunk to nearly historic lows ahead of midterm elections.
Even Trump himself has begun acknowledging that Republicans could face an uphill climb in their push to retain control of both chambers of Congress after November, but suggests it is because his administration hasn't done enough to promote its accomplishments.
“I’ve done a very bad job of explaining," the president said during an event in the White House's East Room, which came before the subsequent announcement on the Alaska investment.
He's promised to help rectify that by spending much of the next 30 days on the road, campaigning ahead of the midterms — though he is beginning that swing with trips to Texas, Alabama, Ohio and Nebraska, which are all normally solidly red states.
“I hope you can believe that I’m running. They like to say, ‘Oh, nobody wants him.’ Well, everybody that has me wins," Trump told the crowd at the Hispanic Heritage Month event. "We lose 40% when I don't run. When I run, we have tremendous success."
Sullivan, who has been a persistent advocate for the Alaska natural gas project and has encouraged South Korean investment, is a two-term senator facing a competitive challenge from Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman.
Wednesday's Alaska event came two days after Trump announced plans for a $15 billion steel plant to be built in Iowa by a Minnesota company owned by an Indian industrial conglomerate.
In Iowa, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson is in a close U.S. Senate contest with Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek for the seat being vacated by retiring two-term Republican Joni Ernst. Hinson spoke in the Oval Office during the announcement.
Alaska and Iowa, where Trump won comfortably each time he has run for president, are among the states where Democrats are targeting Republican-held Senate seats in the 2026 midterm elections, less than five weeks away.
Democrats need to gain a net of four seats in the 100-member Senate to overtake Republicans in the majority.
Trump's announcements come as voters express concern about near-record fuel prices related to the unresolved war with Iran and as majority Republicans in Congress are facing voters dissatisfied with Trump's handling of the economy.
In a late-July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only about one-third of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, and about 7 in 10 described the economy as poor.
Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump winks as the members of the media depart the Oval Office of the White House as Essar Capital Director Prashant Ruia, from left, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, John Jovanovic, chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa., and Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, look on, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, speaks at a get out the vote event held at farm in Palmer, Alaska, on Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Tuesday Sept. 29, 2026, after meeting with top executives of AI firms. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
