Suspect recognized in Dallas salon taking pictures as FBI opens hate crime investigation

The incident may be connected to shootings at Asian-run businesses, police mentioned.

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the May 11 capturing of three girls in a hair salon within the metropolis's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and could possibly be linked to a series of current shootings at Asian-run companies in the city, police said.

The victims, the salon proprietor, an employee and a buyer, are all Korean, in keeping with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal accidents and have been transported to an area hospital, in keeping with police.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia recognized the suspect as 36-year-old Jeremy Smith throughout a press convention on Tuesday. Garcia stated that Smith was charged with three counts of aggravated assault.

"Throughout our investigation, detectives learned that two years ago Smith had a motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia stated. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he's round anyone of Asian descent."

The Dallas Police Division and the FBI are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

"The Dallas FBI Discipline Office, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Northern District in Texas and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice have opened a federal hate crime investigation into the incident at Hair World Salon in Dallas,” a spokesperson for the FBI field workplace in Dallas advised ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to thoroughly examine this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we're not capable of remark further presently."

Police met with group members at a city corridor in Koreatown on Monday amid issues for the public's safety.

Two of the shooting victims – the owner and an employee – were current on the meeting, in accordance with WFAA. The worker spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face lined. The ladies did not reveal their names.

Garcia stated that police proceed to research two other shootings that could be linked to the salon taking pictures.

"Right now, there have been no arrests on those cases," Garcia said, including that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced throughout a Friday press conference that law enforcement “concluded three latest shootings of Asian run businesses may be related.” The suspect in each incident was driving the same car.

This picture shows the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Could 12, 2022. Police are in search of a man who opened fire inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three folks.

Police said they discovered from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a darkish shade minivan-type vehicle" on Royal Lane after which walked throughout the car parking zone and into the establishment, allegedly opening fire as soon as he entered the salon.

Police additionally launched a safety image of a maroon minivan they stated the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the taking pictures at the salon could be linked to at least one that happened a day earlier than and one which passed off last month.

Police learned from witness studies that on April 2, a driver in a purple minivan drove previous a strip mall of Asian-run companies and fired pictures at three businesses. No one was injured.

And on May 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or automotive drove by and shot into Asian-run companies near 4849 Sunnyvale Road, police mentioned.

“Out of an abundance of warning, we now have reached out to our companions to make them aware of the attainable connection and ask for his or her help,” Garcia stated. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Job Power. We are additionally working with North Texas police companions to find out if this prison motion has or is taking place in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, May 12, 2022. A man opened fire inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

Garcia stated police will be growing the presence of high visibility patrol officers in areas in the city the place there are large Asian American populations.

“We're turning to every resident of the town of Dallas to keep an eye fixed out and safeguard our metropolis,” Garcia stated. “Hate has no place here.”

These incidents in Dallas come amid a spate of assaults concentrating on Asian Individuals throughout the nation, which spiked throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC's Jim Ryan studies:

ABC Information' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.