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

The incident could also be connected to shootings at Asian-run companies, police said.

17 Might 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the May 11 capturing of three women in a hair salon within the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and could possibly be linked to a collection of recent shootings at Asian-run companies in the metropolis, police stated.

The victims, the salon proprietor, an employee and a customer, are all Korean, according to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal accidents and have been transported to a local hospital, in line with police.

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

"During our investigation, detectives learned that two years in the past Smith had a motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia mentioned. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he is round anyone of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Field Workplace, the U.S. Lawyer’s Office 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 area workplace in Dallas informed ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to thoroughly examine this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we're not in a position to comment further right now."

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

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

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

"Right now, there have been no arrests on those circumstances," Garcia said, including that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced during a Friday press conference that regulation enforcement “concluded three recent shootings of Asian run businesses could also be linked.” The suspect in each incident was driving a similar vehicle.

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

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

Police additionally released a security picture of a maroon minivan they stated the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the taking pictures on the salon could be linked to one that occurred a day before and one which came about last month.

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

And on Could 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or automotive drove by and shot into Asian-run businesses close to 4849 Sunnyvale Street, police stated.

“Out of an abundance of warning, we have now reached out to our partners to make them conscious of the attainable connection and ask for their assistance,” Garcia said. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Job Pressure. We're also working with North Texas police partners to find out if this prison action has or is happening in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Might 12, 2022. A man opened hearth inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three folks.

Garcia said police will probably be growing the presence of high visibility patrol officers in areas within the metropolis where there are massive Asian American populations.

“We are turning to every resident of town of Dallas to keep a watch out and safeguard our city,” Garcia mentioned. “Hate has no place right here.”

These incidents in Dallas come amid a spate of attacks targeting Asian People throughout the nation, which spiked in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC's Jim Ryan stories:

ABC News' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.