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

The incident may be linked to shootings at Asian-run companies, police stated.

17 Might 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the Might 11 shooting of three ladies in a hair salon in the metropolis's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and could be linked to a sequence of recent shootings at Asian-run businesses within the metropolis, police mentioned.

The victims, the salon owner, an worker and a buyer, are all Korean, based on ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The ladies suffered nonfatal accidents and had been transported to a neighborhood hospital, in response to police.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia recognized the suspect as 36-year-old Jeremy Smith during a press conference 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 motorcar crash with an Asian male," Garcia said. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic assaults 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 Area 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 subject office in Dallas instructed ABC News on Monday. "We are in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to totally examine this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we are not able to comment additional presently."

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

Two of the taking pictures victims – the proprietor and an employee – have been present at the meeting, in accordance with WFAA. The worker spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face covered. The ladies didn't reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police continue to analyze two other shootings that could be linked to the salon capturing.

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced during a Friday press conference that regulation enforcement “concluded three latest shootings of Asian run companies could also be related.” The suspect in every incident was driving the same car.

This photograph exhibits the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Police are looking for a man who opened fireplace contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

Police stated they discovered from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a darkish coloration minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane after which walked across the parking zone and into the establishment, allegedly opening hearth as soon as he entered the salon.

Police also released a security image of a maroon minivan they stated the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the shooting on the salon may be linked to one that happened a day before and one that took place final month.

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

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

“Out of an abundance of warning, now we have reached out to our partners to make them aware of the potential connection and ask for his or her help,” Garcia mentioned. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Process Pressure. We are also working with North Texas police companions to find out if this prison action has or is happening in their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia said police will probably be rising the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the city where there are massive Asian American populations.

“We're turning to each resident of the city of Dallas to keep a watch out and safeguard our city,” Garcia said. “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 News' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.