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

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

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the May 11 capturing of three girls in a hair salon within the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and may very well be linked to a series of current shootings at Asian-run businesses within the metropolis, police stated.

The victims, the salon proprietor, an employee and a buyer, are all Korean, according to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal accidents and had been transported to a neighborhood hospital, in keeping 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.

"Throughout our investigation, detectives discovered 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 is around anybody of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Subject Office, 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 advised ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to totally examine this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we aren't able to comment additional right now."

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

Two of the shooting victims – the owner and an employee – had been present on the assembly, in response to WFAA. The worker spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face lined. The ladies did not reveal their names.

Garcia stated that police proceed to research two different shootings that may be linked to the salon capturing.

"At the moment, there have been no arrests on those cases," Garcia said, adding 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 related.” The suspect in each incident was driving an identical vehicle.

This photograph shows the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Could 12, 2022. Police are searching for a person who opened hearth contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three individuals.

Police stated they realized from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what appeared to be "a dark colour minivan-type car" on Royal Lane after which walked across the car parking zone and into the institution, allegedly opening hearth as quickly as he entered the salon.

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

Garcia stated the shooting on the salon could be linked to 1 that occurred a day before and one which came about last month.

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

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

“Out of an abundance of warning, we now have reached out to our companions to make them aware of the attainable connection and ask for their assistance,” Garcia stated. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Task Pressure. We're additionally working with North Texas police companions to find out if this felony motion has or is taking place in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, May 12, 2022. A person opened fireplace contained in the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three folks.

Garcia stated police will likely be rising the presence of high visibility patrol officers in areas within the city the place there are large Asian American populations.

“We're turning to each resident of town of Dallas to keep an eye fixed out and safeguard our city,” Garcia said. “Hate has no place right here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan reviews:

ABC Information' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.