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

The incident could also 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 taking pictures of three women in a hair salon in the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and could possibly be linked to a sequence of latest shootings at Asian-run companies in the city, 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 women suffered nonfatal injuries and were transported to a neighborhood hospital, in response to police.

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

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

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

"The Dallas FBI Field Office, the U.S. Attorney’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 informed ABC News on Monday. "We are in shut communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to totally examine this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we aren't capable of remark further at the moment."

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

Two of the shooting victims – the proprietor and an worker – have been current on the assembly, in response to WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face lined. The women did not reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police proceed to investigate two other shootings that may be linked to the salon capturing.

"At this time, there have been no arrests on those circumstances," Garcia said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced throughout a Friday press convention that regulation enforcement “concluded three latest shootings of Asian run businesses could also be connected.” The suspect in each incident was driving an identical vehicle.

This photo exhibits the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Might 12, 2022. Police are on the lookout for a man who opened fireplace contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three individuals.

Police stated they realized from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a dark color minivan-type car" on Royal Lane and then walked across the parking lot and into the establishment, allegedly opening fireplace as quickly as he entered the salon.

Police also launched a security image of a maroon minivan they stated the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia mentioned the taking pictures at the salon could be linked to one that occurred a day earlier than and one that occurred final month.

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

And on May 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or automotive drove by and shot into Asian-run businesses near 4849 Sunnyvale Road, 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 his or her help,” Garcia mentioned. “This consists of the FBI and member companies of the Joint Terrorism Process Pressure. We are also working with North Texas police partners to find out if this felony motion has or is happening in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Might 12, 2022. A man opened fireplace inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three individuals.

Garcia said police shall be growing the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas within the city where there are large Asian American populations.

“We are turning to every resident of the town of Dallas to keep a watch out and safeguard our city,” Garcia said. “Hate has no place here.”

These incidents in Dallas come amid a spate of attacks targeting Asian People throughout the nation, which spiked throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC's Jim Ryan studies:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.