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

The incident could also be connected to shootings at Asian-run companies, police mentioned.

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the Might 11 taking pictures of three girls in a hair salon in the metropolis's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and may very well be linked to a series of recent shootings at Asian-run companies in the metropolis, police mentioned.

The victims, the salon proprietor, an worker and a customer, are all Korean, in line with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The ladies suffered nonfatal accidents and were 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 conference 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 motorized vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia mentioned. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he's around anybody of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Field Office, the U.S. Legal professional’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 subject office in Dallas instructed ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to completely examine this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we're not capable of comment further at this time."

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

Two of the capturing victims – the proprietor and an employee – had been present on the meeting, in keeping 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 continue to investigate two other shootings that could be linked to the salon capturing.

"At the moment, there have been no arrests on these circumstances," Garcia said, including that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced throughout a Friday press convention that law enforcement “concluded three current shootings of Asian run businesses could also be linked.” The suspect in every incident was driving the same car.

This picture reveals 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 folks.

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

Police also launched a safety image of a maroon minivan they mentioned the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the shooting at the salon might be linked to at least one that happened a day before and one which passed off last month.

Police realized from witness reviews that on April 2, a driver in a pink minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired photographs at three businesses. Nobody was injured.

And on Could 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or car drove by and shot into Asian-run companies close to 4849 Sunnyvale Road, police mentioned.

“Out of an abundance of warning, we've 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 companies of the Joint Terrorism Task Pressure. We are also working with North Texas police companions to determine if this prison action has or is happening in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Could 12, 2022. A man opened hearth inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three individuals.

Garcia stated police will be increasing the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas within the metropolis the place there are giant Asian American populations.

“We're turning to each resident of the 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 assaults focusing on Asian Americans throughout the nation, which spiked in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC's Jim Ryan stories:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.