In a shocking turn of events, Shili Chen, one month after being arrested alongside her husband for the alleged murder of their transgender New York Times executive son-in-law, Jonathan McKinsey, is now shifting blame to her husband in new legal documents. Chen’s lawyers claim she was merely a witness to her husband, Shouyong Zhang, firing the fatal shots at McKinsey in a crowded Dublin, California park, asserting that she only exited her vehicle to protect her husband from a perceived assault by McKinsey. While surveillance footage appears to show Chen also firing a gun at McKinsey after her husband had already shot him, her defense argues she was kept “in the dark” about Zhang’s alleged murder plot and that her subsequent shots were fired when McKinsey was already deceased, thus not making her the “actual killer.” This claim comes as Zhang allegedly admitted to the shooting after being shown video evidence, though he reportedly stated he asked Chen to drive to the park without specifying why. Prosecutors accuse the couple of “lying in wait” for McKinsey, a charge Chen’s lawyers dispute, and both are currently held without bail, seeking pretrial release amidst allegations of a killing involving “great violence” and “callousness” that occurred during a bitter divorce and custody battle between McKinsey and their daughter, Candice Jang, a dispute that included accusations of anti-LGBTQ slurs and physical altercations.
Adapted from: U.S. News Today on Fox News
