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

The incident may be connected to shootings at Asian-run businesses, police mentioned.

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the Might 11 taking pictures of three women in a hair salon within the metropolis's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and could possibly be linked to a sequence of latest shootings at Asian-run businesses in the city, police mentioned.

The victims, the salon owner, an employee and a customer, are all Korean, in keeping with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The ladies suffered nonfatal accidents and were transported to a local hospital, in response to police.

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

"During our investigation, detectives realized that two years in the past Smith had a motorized vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia stated. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks 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 Field Workplace, the U.S. Legal professional’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 workplace in Dallas instructed ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to totally investigate this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we aren't capable of comment further right now."

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

Two of the capturing victims – the proprietor and an worker – had been current on the meeting, in line with WFAA. The employee spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face lined. The women didn't reveal their names.

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

"At the moment, there have been no arrests on these instances," Garcia said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced throughout a Friday press convention that regulation enforcement “concluded three recent shootings of Asian run companies may be linked.” The suspect in each incident was driving an analogous vehicle.

This picture shows the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Could 12, 2022. Police are in search of a person who opened fire inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three individuals.

Police stated they learned from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a dark color minivan-type car" 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 safety picture of a maroon minivan they stated the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the capturing on the salon could be linked to at least one that happened a day before and one that passed off last month.

Police discovered from witness reports that on April 2, a driver in a pink minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired shots at three companies. Nobody was injured.

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

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have reached out to our partners to make them aware of the potential connection and ask for their help,” Garcia stated. “This contains the FBI and member companies of the Joint Terrorism Task Drive. We are also working with North Texas police partners to determine if this prison action has or is happening of their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia mentioned police shall be rising the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the metropolis where there are massive Asian American populations.

“We're 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 concentrating on Asian Americans throughout the nation, which spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC's Jim Ryan reviews:

ABC News' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.