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

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

17 Might 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the Could 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 sequence of recent shootings at Asian-run companies within the city, police said.

The victims, the salon proprietor, an worker and a customer, are all Korean, in line with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal accidents and were transported to an area hospital, in line with police.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia identified the suspect as 36-year-old Jeremy Smith throughout 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 is round anybody of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Subject Workplace, the U.S. Legal professional’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 area office in Dallas instructed ABC Information on Monday. "We are in shut communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to totally examine this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we're not able to comment further at this time."

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 employee – were present at the meeting, based on WFAA. The employee spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face covered. The women didn't reveal their names.

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

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

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

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

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

Police additionally released a safety picture of a maroon minivan they mentioned the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the capturing at the salon is perhaps linked to at least one that occurred a day before and one that passed off last month.

Police discovered from witness stories that on April 2, a driver in a purple 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 businesses near 4849 Sunnyvale Street, police stated.

“Out of an abundance of warning, we've reached out to our companions to make them aware of the potential connection and ask for his or her assistance,” Garcia said. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Task Drive. We're also working with North Texas police companions to find out if this criminal action has or is going down in their jurisdictions.”

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

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

“We're turning to each resident of the city of Dallas to maintain a watch out and safeguard our city,” Garcia mentioned. “Hate has no place here.”

These incidents in Dallas come amid a spate of attacks 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.