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

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

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the Might 11 shooting of three ladies in a hair salon within the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and could possibly be linked to a collection of recent shootings at Asian-run companies within the metropolis, police said.

The victims, the salon owner, an worker and a customer, are all Korean, according to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal injuries and have been transported to an area hospital, in keeping with police.

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

"Throughout our investigation, detectives realized that two years in the past Smith had a motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia mentioned. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he is around anybody of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Area Office, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Northern District in Texas and the Civil Rights Division of the Division 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 instructed ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to thoroughly investigate this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we're not able to comment additional at the moment."

Police met with neighborhood members at a town corridor in Koreatown on Monday amid concerns for the public's security.

Two of the capturing victims – the owner and an employee – have been current on the meeting, in keeping with WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face coated. The ladies did not reveal their names.

Garcia said that police continue to investigate two different shootings which may be linked to the salon shooting.

"At this time, there have been no arrests on these instances," Garcia mentioned, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced during a Friday press conference that legislation enforcement “concluded three recent shootings of Asian run companies could also be related.” The suspect in each incident was driving an identical automobile.

This picture exhibits the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Might 12, 2022. Police are searching for a person who opened hearth contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three folks.

Police stated they learned from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what appeared to be "a darkish colour minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane after which walked across the parking zone and into the establishment, allegedly opening fireplace as quickly as he entered the salon.

Police additionally released a safety image of a maroon minivan they said the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia stated the shooting on the salon is likely to be linked to at least one that happened a day before and one that came about last month.

Police discovered from witness stories that on April 2, a driver in a crimson minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run companies and fired pictures at three companies. No one was injured.

And on Could 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or automobile drove by and shot into Asian-run businesses near 4849 Sunnyvale Street, police stated.

“Out of an abundance of caution, now we have reached out to our partners to make them conscious of the potential connection and ask for their help,” Garcia mentioned. “This consists of the FBI and member companies of the Joint Terrorism Job Power. We are additionally working with North Texas police partners to determine if this legal motion has or is going down of their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, May 12, 2022. A man opened hearth inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three folks.

Garcia stated police shall be rising the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the city the place there are giant Asian American populations.

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

These incidents in Dallas come amid a spate of attacks focusing on Asian Americans across the nation, which spiked throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC's Jim Ryan reviews:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.