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 mentioned.

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the Could 11 shooting of three girls in a hair salon within the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and might be linked to a collection of latest shootings at Asian-run companies in the metropolis, police stated.

The victims, the salon owner, an employee and a customer, are all Korean, according to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal injuries and were transported to a local hospital, in keeping with 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 learned that two years ago Smith had a motorcar crash with an Asian male," Garcia stated. "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 Discipline Workplace, the U.S. Lawyer’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 subject workplace in Dallas advised ABC Information on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to completely investigate this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we're not able to remark additional presently."

Police met with group members at a city hall in Koreatown on Monday amid issues for the public's security.

Two of the capturing victims – the proprietor and an employee – have been present at the assembly, based on WFAA. The employee spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face covered. The ladies did not reveal their names.

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

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced during a Friday press conference that law enforcement “concluded three latest shootings of Asian run companies may be related.” The suspect in each incident was driving a similar automobile.

This photograph shows the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Police are looking for a man who opened fireplace inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three people.

Police stated they learned from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what appeared to be "a dark color minivan-type vehicle" on Royal Lane and then walked across the parking zone and into the institution, allegedly opening fire as soon as he entered the salon.

Police also launched a security picture of a maroon minivan they mentioned the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the capturing on the salon is perhaps linked to at least one that occurred a day earlier than and one which passed off final month.

Police learned from witness reviews that on April 2, a driver in a pink minivan drove previous a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired photographs at three companies. No one was injured.

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

“Out of an abundance of warning, we have reached out to our companions to make them conscious of the attainable connection and ask for their assistance,” Garcia said. “This consists of the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Activity Pressure. We are additionally working with North Texas police partners to find out if this prison 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 people.

Garcia said police might be rising the presence of high visibility patrol officers in areas in the metropolis where there are giant Asian American populations.

“We're turning to each resident of town of Dallas to maintain a watch out and safeguard our city,” Garcia mentioned. “Hate has no place here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan stories:

ABC Information' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.