Grandmother accused of shooting son-in-law of New York Times executive says husband fired fatal shots

A grandmother accused of murdering her transgender New York Times executive son-in-law throws her husband under the bus in an explosive bail request, making shocking claims about her co-defendant in a quest for freedom.

Lawyers for Shili Chen, 77, say her husband, Shouyong Zhang, was “obsessed” with Jonathan McKinsey, the executive married to their daughter, Candice Jang, and it was he who shot her in September.

Chen’s lawyer, Curtis Briggs, writes that Chen did not fire the first shots at McKinsey when the couple allegedly shot him in the parking lot of the Dublin sports field.

Briggs says Chen watched as her husband, Shouyong Zhang, 77, fired fatal shots at McKinsey before getting out of the car “to protect her husband from what she feared was an assault by Mr. McKinsey.”

Chen “then walked over to his body and fired several shots into his motionless body as her husband appeared to be doubled over with pain gripping his abdomen,” Briggs wrote.

The couple only went to the park at her husband’s direction, Briggs wrote, and knew only that Zhang had asked her to bring a gun “for the purported purpose of going to the shooting range.”

Briggs also presents evidence that Zhang was “consumed by the belief” that McKinsey, who he told police had a “dark soul,” was going to kill him. He became increasingly obsessed with him and believed the executive had set up two cases in which he was hit by cars while riding his bicycle in previous months.

He believed McKinsey targeted him because he would have “freedom” without his grandfather present.

“I sincerely believe the reason why he wants to trap me and harm/kill me is because without me he will have complete freedom,” Zhang told police, also admitting that he killed McKinsey to protect himself and his grandchildren from any future danger.

Police executed a search warrant on the couple’s one-bedroom apartment and made a shocking discovery that convinced them that “Zhang had intended to target McKinsey.”

In the couple’s bedroom, Briggs wrote, police found four photo albums, nitrile gloves and an empty box for a Sig Sauer pistol. The gloves matched those found at the scene by Chen, while the photo albums had a spooky twist.

Several McKinsey photos “had parts of his face cut out, and this one had black marks and dots drawn on his chest and over his right eye in places that appeared consistent with where he was later photographed,” Briggs detailed.

It is unclear who marked the photographs, but Briggs suggested that a detective at the scene used them to draw conclusions about Zhang’s motivations before the murder.

Chen’s defense team noted that Zhang appeared to show “significant signs of advanced dementia” before the alleged murder.

Briggs says Chen should be released due to her poor health, which includes problems with high blood pressure and blood sugar. He is also particularly concerned about the Santa Rita prison where she is being held. Five people have died since the start of this year in this prison.

“For Ms. Chen, pretrial detention can become a death sentence without conviction,” Briggs wrote.

He added that Briggs would pose a minimal flight risk because she does not have the means to flee, and he proposed placing her on home detention with GPS monitoring. Briggs wanted Chen to settle down with his daughter, Candice Jang, who was in contentious divorce and custody proceedings with McKinsey before the murder.

He also argued against the special circumstance of expectation, saying that if the prosecution asserted that Chen was the real killer, it would “strain the facts” because Zhang “fired so many shots into Mr. McKinsey’s chest and head before Ms. Chen arrived.”

Chen’s bail hearing is scheduled for November 4.

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