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

The incident may be related to shootings at Asian-run companies, police said.

17 Could 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

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

The victims, the salon proprietor, an employee 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 keeping with police.

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

"Throughout our investigation, detectives realized that two years in the past Smith had a motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia mentioned. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he is 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. Lawyer’s Office 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 field 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 comment additional presently."

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

Two of the capturing victims – the owner and an worker – were present at the assembly, in accordance with WFAA. The employee spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face coated. The women did not reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police continue to research two different shootings that could be linked to the salon shooting.

"Right now, there have been no arrests on these instances," Garcia said, including that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced throughout a Friday press conference that legislation enforcement “concluded three latest shootings of Asian run companies may be connected.” The suspect in every incident was driving a similar vehicle.

This photograph shows the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Police are on the lookout for a person who opened fire inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

Police said they learned from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what gave the impression to be "a darkish coloration minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane and then walked throughout the car parking zone and into the establishment, allegedly opening hearth as quickly as he entered the salon.

Police additionally released a security picture of a maroon minivan they mentioned the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the capturing at the salon might be linked to one that occurred a day earlier than and one which happened last month.

Police realized from witness experiences that on April 2, a driver in a crimson minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired pictures at three businesses. 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 Street, police stated.

“Out of an abundance of warning, we've got reached out to our partners to make them conscious of the possible connection and ask for their assistance,” Garcia mentioned. “This includes the FBI and member companies of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. We are additionally working with North Texas police companions to determine if this criminal motion has or is going down of their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Could 12, 2022. A person opened fireplace inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

Garcia stated police will probably be growing the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the city where there are large Asian American populations.

“We're turning to each resident of the town of Dallas to maintain an eye out and safeguard our metropolis,” Garcia mentioned. “Hate has no place right here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan reports:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.