Suspect identified in Dallas salon taking pictures as FBI opens hate crime investigation

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

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the Might 11 shooting of three women in a hair salon in the metropolis's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and may very well be linked to a series of latest shootings at Asian-run companies within the metropolis, police mentioned.

The victims, the salon owner, an employee and a customer, are all Korean, in line with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal accidents and had been transported to an area hospital, in response to police.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia identified the suspect as 36-year-old Jeremy Smith during a press convention 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 motorcar crash with an Asian male," Garcia mentioned. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he's around anyone of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Area Office, the U.S. Legal professional’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 subject workplace in Dallas advised ABC News on Monday. "We are in shut 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 at this time."

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

Two of the shooting victims – the proprietor and an employee – were present on the meeting, in keeping with WFAA. The employee spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face lined. The ladies did not reveal their names.

Garcia stated that police continue to analyze two other shootings that could be linked to the salon shooting.

"At the moment, there have been no arrests on those cases," Garcia stated, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

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

This picture exhibits the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Might 12, 2022. Police are in search of a person who opened fire contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three folks.

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

Police additionally launched a security picture of a maroon minivan they stated the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia mentioned the capturing at the salon may be linked to one that occurred a day before and one that occurred final month.

Police realized from witness experiences that on April 2, a driver in a crimson minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run companies and fired photographs at three businesses. No one was injured.

And on Could 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or automobile drove by and shot into Asian-run companies close to 4849 Sunnyvale Road, police mentioned.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we now have reached out to our companions to make them conscious of the potential connection and ask for his or her assistance,” Garcia stated. “This includes the FBI and member businesses of the Joint Terrorism Activity Drive. We're also working with North Texas police partners to determine if this prison motion has or is going down of their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, May 12, 2022. A person opened fire inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three individuals.

Garcia said police might be rising the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas within the city the place there are giant Asian American populations.

“We are 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 focusing on Asian Individuals throughout the nation, which spiked in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC's Jim Ryan experiences:

ABC Information' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.