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

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

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the May 11 taking pictures of three girls in a hair salon within the metropolis's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and may very well be linked to a sequence of recent shootings at Asian-run businesses in the city, police said.

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

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

"Throughout our investigation, detectives learned that two years in the past Smith had a motorized vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia stated. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic assaults and delusions when he is around anyone of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Field Workplace, the U.S. Lawyer’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 News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to totally examine this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we aren't in a position to comment further at the moment."

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

Two of the capturing victims – the owner and an worker – had been present on the meeting, in keeping with WFAA. The worker spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face covered. The ladies didn't reveal their names.

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

"At this time, there have been no arrests on those cases," Garcia said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

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

This picture exhibits the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Could 12, 2022. Police are in search of a person who opened hearth contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three people.

Police said they discovered from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a dark color minivan-type car" on Royal Lane and then walked across the car parking zone and into the institution, allegedly opening fire as soon as he entered the salon.

Police also released a safety image of a maroon minivan they stated the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the capturing at the salon could be linked to 1 that occurred a day before and one which befell final month.

Police learned from witness reviews that on April 2, a driver in a crimson minivan drove previous a strip mall of Asian-run companies and fired photographs 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 near 4849 Sunnyvale Avenue, police stated.

“Out of an abundance of warning, we have now reached out to our partners to make them conscious of the potential connection and ask for his or her help,” Garcia mentioned. “This contains the FBI and member businesses of the Joint Terrorism Process Drive. We're also working with North Texas police companions to determine if this felony motion has or is going down in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Could 12, 2022. A person opened hearth contained in the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three people.

Garcia said police might be increasing the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the metropolis the place there are massive Asian American populations.

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

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

ABC's Jim Ryan stories:

ABC News' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.