New details revealed about day in-laws allegedly executed trans NYT exec in NorCal

The daughter of the elderly grandparents jointly accused of murdering their transgender former son-in-law is not connected to the shooting, according to a defense attorney.

Mother-of-three Candice Jang, 47, was interviewed by police following the slaying but lawyer Curtis Briggs, who represents her mother Shili Chen, 77, told The Post: “I don’t think she’s involved in the case.”

But Briggs, who has spoken with Jang since the slaying although she is not his client, noted “she’s technically under investigation.”

The Post was present when police executed a search warrant at Jang’s three-bedroom townhome last month, three days after ex-husband Jonathan McKinsey was killed, and seized items including her computer and Lexus SUV. 

Chen was arrested alongside her husband Shouyoung Zhang, also 77, on Sept. 26, just minutes after the execution-style carpark slaying of McKinsey, 40, in Dublin, about 25 miles southeast of Oakland. 

The New York Times gaming software executive had just completed a custody visit at a sports center with the minor children he shared with Jang, Briggs told the Post.

“They were just wrapping up a court-supervised visit at a park in a public place where it could be supervised just to ensure the kids’ safety,” said Briggs. 

---

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

Exact details of what transpired are still unclear, but Biggs exclusivley confirmed to the Post that the former couple’s children had been dropped off by Jang for them to meet with their father and that she had collected them before the shooting. 

“It happened just as the meeting was wrapping up,” explained Briggs. “So Mr McKinsey was on his way back to his car.

“My understanding is that Candice had left with the kids.”

Shortly after, McKinsey lay mortally wounded. 

Witnesses have previously described Chen and Zhang as taking turns to fire on their alleged victim. Both have pleaded not guilty. 

The owner of Creative Energy hot tub store located opposite the shooting scene told the Post he had heard “eight or nine” shots. 

McKinsey, who was born a woman and transitioned early into his 14-year marriage to Jang, was gunned down in front of stunned onlookers, including children.  

Briggs declined to comment on why the grandparents were at the sports center but stated they “were not picking up the kids.”

He confirmed to the Post that police had recovered “a small caliber handgun” from the scene.

He described Chen, his client, as “not operating at a high cognitive level. She’s elderly, forgetful, confused, overwhelmed.”

She is “pretty quiet and timid. She’s a traditional Chinese woman.”

Briggs also doubled down on his sensational claim that McKinsey had threatened to hire a hitman to assassinate Chen, who acted as a “primary nanny for the grandkids.”

His client and her husband had purchased weapons earlier in the year for self defense, he added. 

“My client carried a gun because she was afraid that Mr. McKinsey was going to harm her and the grandchildren. 

“She’d been carrying a gun for a while. So that was not an unusual thing for her,” explained Briggs.

Of McKinsey, Briggs stated Chen “was not responsible for his death.” 

Explosive divorce papers filed by Jang detailed disturbing instances of emotional and physical abuse by McKinsey — toward her and their children.

McKinsey, who made similar accusations against his estranged wife and her parents, filed for divorce in December 2025. They had married in Texas in 2011. 

Briggs was visiting with his Chinese-born client in jail on Tuesday, speaking through a Mandarin interpreter, and described her as “stressed out, anxious, scared, nervous for her kids.

“There’s still a very strong sense of fear from Mr. McKinsley’s family.”

McKinsey exhibited a “pattern of violence against the children was something very real the family was dealing with.”

“At one point, he had threatened to have somebody kill her.

“And then during the last year during the divorce, he had mentioned to my client that he was going to get rid of her a couple of times. 

He told his wife he would have her mother killed, explained Briggs, “and that he knew someone who would do it.”

Briggs described McKinsey as “very, very unstable” over the past 15 to 20 years, alleging that he once broke his wife’s vertebrae during an argument.

The defense attorney said he is now reviewing evidence turned over by prosecutors, including “thousands and thousands of videos and pictures.”

Briggs also claimed that Chen and her family endured years of alleged abuse and intimidation at McKinsey’s hands.

“It’s really sad to see all of the suffering,” he said.