Suspect recognized in Dallas salon taking pictures 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 learn

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

The victims, the salon proprietor, an worker and a buyer, are all Korean, in keeping with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal accidents and have been transported to a neighborhood hospital, in response to police.

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

"During 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 anybody of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Field Office, 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 discipline office in Dallas told ABC Information on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to totally examine this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we aren't in a position to remark additional at the moment."

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

Two of the shooting victims – the proprietor and an worker – were current on the assembly, based on WFAA. The worker spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face coated. The ladies did not reveal their names.

Garcia stated that police proceed to research two other shootings that could be linked to the salon taking pictures.

"At this time, there have been no arrests on these circumstances," Garcia mentioned, 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 businesses could also be linked.” The suspect in each incident was driving an analogous vehicle.

This photograph shows the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Could 12, 2022. Police are looking for a person who opened hearth contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

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

Police also launched a security image of a maroon minivan they said the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the taking pictures on the salon may be linked to one that occurred a day earlier than and one that happened last month.

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

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

“Out of an abundance of warning, we now have reached out to our companions to make them conscious of the possible connection and ask for their help,” Garcia mentioned. “This contains the FBI and member companies of the Joint Terrorism Activity Force. We are additionally working with North Texas police partners to determine if this legal motion has or is happening in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Might 12, 2022. A man opened fireplace inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three people.

Garcia mentioned police can be growing the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas within the metropolis the place there are giant Asian American populations.

“We are turning to every resident of the town of Dallas to maintain 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 attacks focusing on Asian Americans throughout the nation, which spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC's Jim Ryan experiences:

ABC Information' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.