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

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

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the Might 11 taking pictures of three girls in a hair salon within the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and might be linked to a collection of current shootings at Asian-run companies in the city, police stated.

The victims, the salon owner, an employee and a buyer, are all Korean, in response to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal accidents and were transported to a neighborhood 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 said that Smith was charged with three counts of aggravated assault.

"During our investigation, detectives discovered that two years in the past Smith had a motorcar crash with an Asian male," Garcia said. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he is round anybody of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Field Office, the U.S. Legal professional’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 discipline workplace in Dallas instructed ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to completely investigate this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we are not in a position to comment additional at the moment."

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

Two of the shooting victims – the proprietor and an worker – were present on the assembly, according to WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face lined. The women didn't reveal their names.

Garcia stated that police proceed to research two other shootings which may be linked to the salon taking pictures.

"Right now, there have been no arrests on these cases," Garcia mentioned, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

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

This picture reveals the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Might 12, 2022. Police are searching for a person who opened fire inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three folks.

Police said they discovered from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what gave the impression to be "a darkish shade minivan-type vehicle" on Royal Lane after which walked across the car parking zone and into the institution, 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 taking pictures at the salon is perhaps linked to at least one that occurred a day earlier than and one which passed off final month.

Police realized from witness reports that on April 2, a driver in a red minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired shots at three businesses. No one was injured.

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

“Out of an abundance of warning, we've got reached out to our partners to make them conscious of the possible connection and ask for his or her assistance,” Garcia stated. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Activity Power. We're additionally working with North Texas police companions to determine if this prison action has or is happening in their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia mentioned police can be rising the presence of high visibility patrol officers in areas in the metropolis the place there are massive Asian American populations.

“We are turning to each resident of the town of Dallas to keep a watch out and safeguard our metropolis,” Garcia said. “Hate has no place here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan studies:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.