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

The incident could also be related to shootings at Asian-run businesses, police stated.

17 Could 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the May 11 shooting of three girls in a hair salon in the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and could possibly be linked to a series of latest shootings at Asian-run businesses within the metropolis, police mentioned.

The victims, the salon proprietor, an employee and a buyer, are all Korean, according to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The ladies suffered nonfatal accidents and have been transported to a neighborhood hospital, in accordance with police.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia identified 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.

"Throughout our investigation, detectives realized that two years ago Smith had a motorcar 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 Area Workplace, the U.S. Legal professional’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 area workplace in Dallas informed ABC Information on Monday. "We are in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to totally investigate this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we are not capable of remark additional at this time."

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

Two of the capturing victims – the proprietor and an employee – have been current at the meeting, in accordance with WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face lined. The women did not reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police continue to investigate two different shootings that could be linked to the salon capturing.

"Presently, there have been no arrests on these circumstances," Garcia mentioned, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced throughout a Friday press convention that regulation enforcement “concluded three recent shootings of Asian run companies may be linked.” The suspect in every incident was driving an analogous automobile.

This picture reveals the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Could 12, 2022. Police are on the lookout for a man who opened fireplace inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

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

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

Garcia stated the capturing on the salon may be linked to one that happened a day earlier than and one that passed off last month.

Police learned 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 businesses. No one was injured.

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

“Out of an abundance of warning, we've reached out to our partners to make them conscious of the potential connection and ask for their help,” Garcia said. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Process Pressure. We're additionally working with North Texas police companions to determine if this prison motion has or is taking place in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Might 12, 2022. A person opened fireplace contained in the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

Garcia mentioned police shall be growing 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 an eye fixed out and safeguard our metropolis,” Garcia mentioned. “Hate has no place right here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan studies:

ABC Information' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.