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

The incident could also be connected to shootings at Asian-run businesses, police said.

17 Could 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the May 11 capturing of three ladies in a hair salon in the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and might be linked to a series of current shootings at Asian-run businesses in the city, police mentioned.

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

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

"During our investigation, detectives discovered that two years ago Smith had a motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia stated. "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 Discipline Workplace, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Northern District in Texas and the Civil Rights Division of the Division 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 told ABC Information on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to completely examine this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we aren't capable of remark further presently."

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 employee – had been current on the meeting, based on WFAA. The worker spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face coated. The women didn't reveal their names.

Garcia said that police continue to analyze two different shootings which may be linked to the salon taking pictures.

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced throughout a Friday press convention that legislation enforcement “concluded three latest shootings of Asian run companies could also be related.” The suspect in every incident was driving an identical automobile.

This picture reveals the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Police are in search of a person who opened fireplace contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three folks.

Police mentioned they learned from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a dark coloration minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane after which walked throughout the parking zone and into the institution, allegedly opening hearth as quickly as he entered the salon.

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

Garcia stated the shooting on the salon could be linked to one that happened a day earlier than and one that occurred final month.

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

And on Could 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or automotive drove by and shot into Asian-run companies near 4849 Sunnyvale Avenue, police said.

“Out of an abundance of warning, we have now reached out to our partners to make them conscious of the possible connection and ask for their help,” Garcia stated. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Job Force. We are also working with North Texas police companions to find out if this criminal action has or is taking place in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Might 12, 2022. A person opened hearth inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three folks.

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

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

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

ABC's Jim Ryan experiences:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.