Suspect recognized in Dallas salon shooting as FBI opens hate crime investigation

The incident may be related to shootings at Asian-run companies, police stated.

17 Could 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

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

The victims, the salon proprietor, an employee and a buyer, are all Korean, in response to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal injuries and have been transported to a neighborhood hospital, based on police.

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

"During our investigation, detectives discovered that two years in the past Smith had a motorcar crash with an Asian male," Garcia said. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic assaults and delusions when he is around anyone of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Area Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office 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 discipline workplace in Dallas told ABC Information on Monday. "We are in shut communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to completely investigate this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we're not in a position to comment additional at the moment."

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

Two of the capturing victims – the owner and an employee – were current on the assembly, in response to WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face coated. The ladies didn't reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police proceed to analyze two other shootings that may be linked to the salon taking pictures.

"Presently, there have been no arrests on these cases," Garcia mentioned, including that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced during a Friday press conference that legislation enforcement “concluded three latest shootings of Asian run companies could also be linked.” The suspect in every incident was driving an analogous car.

This picture shows the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Could 12, 2022. Police are looking for a man who opened fireplace contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three individuals.

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

Police additionally launched a safety picture of a maroon minivan they said the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the capturing at the salon is perhaps linked to at least one that happened a day before and one which occurred last month.

Police discovered from witness reports that on April 2, a driver in a pink minivan drove previous a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired shots 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 mentioned.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we've reached out to our companions to make them aware of the doable connection and ask for their assistance,” Garcia mentioned. “This contains the FBI and member businesses of the Joint Terrorism Job Force. We're also working with North Texas police companions to find out if this criminal motion has or is happening in their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia said police will likely be rising the presence of high visibility patrol officers in areas within the metropolis where there are large Asian American populations.

“We are turning to every resident of town of Dallas to maintain an eye out and safeguard our metropolis,” Garcia stated. “Hate has no place right here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan studies:

ABC News' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.