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

The incident may be related 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 capturing of three girls in a hair salon in the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and could be linked to a sequence of recent shootings at Asian-run companies within the metropolis, police mentioned.

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

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

"During our investigation, detectives realized that two years ago Smith had a motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia stated. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic assaults and delusions when he's around anybody of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Field Office, 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 discipline workplace in Dallas informed ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to completely examine this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we are not able to remark additional at the moment."

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

Two of the taking pictures victims – the owner and an worker – were current on the meeting, according to WFAA. The worker spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face coated. The ladies did not reveal their names.

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

"At this time, there have been no arrests on those circumstances," Garcia stated, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced during a Friday press conference that legislation enforcement “concluded three current shootings of Asian run businesses could also be connected.” The suspect in every incident was driving the same automobile.

This photo exhibits the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Police are searching for a person who opened fire contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three individuals.

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

Police also released a safety image of a maroon minivan they mentioned the shooter fled the scene in.

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

Police realized from witness reviews that on April 2, a driver in a red minivan drove previous a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired photographs at three companies. Nobody was injured.

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

“Out of an abundance of warning, now we have reached out to our companions to make them conscious of the doable connection and ask for his or her assistance,” Garcia stated. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Task Pressure. We're also working with North Texas police partners to determine if this criminal motion has or is taking place of their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia stated police will likely be increasing the presence of high visibility patrol officers in areas within the metropolis the place there are massive Asian American populations.

“We're turning to every resident of town of Dallas to maintain a watch out and safeguard our metropolis,” Garcia stated. “Hate has no place here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan stories:

ABC Information' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.