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

The incident could also be related to shootings at Asian-run businesses, police stated.

17 Could 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the Could 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 might be linked to a series of current shootings at Asian-run companies within the city, police mentioned.

The victims, the salon owner, an worker and a buyer, are all Korean, in line with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The ladies suffered nonfatal injuries and have been transported to a local hospital, in line with police.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia recognized 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 learned that two years in the past Smith had a motorcar crash with an Asian male," Garcia said. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he's round anybody of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Subject Workplace, 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 area office in Dallas instructed ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to completely investigate this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we are not capable of comment additional presently."

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

Two of the taking pictures victims – the owner and an employee – had been current at the meeting, in keeping with WFAA. The employee spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face coated. The ladies did not reveal their names.

Garcia stated that police continue to research two other shootings that could be linked to the salon capturing.

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced during a Friday press convention that regulation enforcement “concluded three current shootings of Asian run companies may be connected.” The suspect in every incident was driving the same automobile.

This picture reveals the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Might 12, 2022. Police are in search of a person 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 color 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 additionally released a security image of a maroon minivan they stated the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia stated the shooting at the salon might be linked to one that occurred a day earlier than and one which came about last month.

Police learned from witness reports that on April 2, a driver in a red minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run companies and fired shots at three companies. No one was injured.

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

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have reached out to our partners to make them conscious of the possible connection and ask for his or her help,” Garcia stated. “This consists of the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Process Power. We are also working with North Texas police partners to find out if this prison motion has or is going down in their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia stated police shall 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 the city of Dallas to keep an eye fixed out and safeguard our city,” Garcia said. “Hate has no place right here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan studies:

ABC Information' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.