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

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

17 Might 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the Could 11 capturing of three ladies 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 sequence of recent shootings at Asian-run businesses within the city, police mentioned.

The victims, the salon owner, an worker and a customer, are all Korean, in keeping with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal injuries and were transported to an area hospital, based on police.

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

"Throughout our investigation, detectives realized that two years in the past Smith had a motorized vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia said. "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 Subject Workplace, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Northern District in Texas and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice have opened a federal hate crime investigation into the incident at Hair World Salon in Dallas,” a spokesperson for the FBI subject office in Dallas advised ABC News on Monday. "We are in shut communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to thoroughly investigate this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we're not able to remark further at the moment."

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

Two of the capturing victims – the owner and an worker – were current at the assembly, in accordance with WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face covered. The ladies did not reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police continue to investigate two other shootings that may be linked to the salon taking pictures.

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced throughout a Friday press convention that law enforcement “concluded three current shootings of Asian run businesses may be linked.” The suspect in every incident was driving the same vehicle.

This picture reveals the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Might 12, 2022. Police are looking for a man who opened fire inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three individuals.

Police mentioned they learned from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a darkish colour minivan-type car" on Royal Lane and then walked across the parking zone and into the establishment, allegedly opening fireplace as quickly as he entered the salon.

Police additionally launched a safety image of a maroon minivan they said the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia mentioned the shooting on the salon is perhaps linked to at least one that occurred a day before and one which took place final month.

Police discovered from witness studies that on April 2, a driver in a pink minivan drove previous a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired shots 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 close to 4849 Sunnyvale Street, police said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we've got reached out to our partners to make them aware of the potential connection and ask for their help,” Garcia mentioned. “This contains the FBI and member companies of the Joint Terrorism Process Power. We're also working with North Texas police companions to determine if this criminal motion has or is happening of their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia mentioned police can be rising the presence of high 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 keep an eye fixed out and safeguard our metropolis,” Garcia mentioned. “Hate has no place here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan experiences:

ABC Information' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.