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

The incident could also be linked to shootings at Asian-run companies, police said.

17 Might 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the Might 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 city, police said.

The victims, the salon proprietor, an worker and a buyer, are all Korean, in accordance with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal injuries and have been transported to a neighborhood hospital, in keeping with police.

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

"During our investigation, detectives realized that two years ago Smith had a motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia said. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic assaults and delusions when he is around anyone of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Discipline Workplace, the U.S. Lawyer’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 Information on Monday. "We are in shut communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to completely examine this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we are not able 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 security.

Two of the capturing victims – the owner and an worker – were current on the meeting, in line with WFAA. The worker spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face coated. The women did not reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police proceed to research two other shootings that could be linked to the salon shooting.

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

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

This photograph shows the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Could 12, 2022. Police are on the lookout for a person who opened fireplace inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three folks.

Police stated they learned from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what gave the impression to be "a darkish shade minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane after which walked across the car parking zone and into the establishment, allegedly opening fire as soon as he entered the salon.

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

Garcia said the taking pictures on the salon is perhaps linked to one that happened a day earlier than and one which came about 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 companies and fired photographs at three businesses. No one was injured.

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

“Out of an abundance of warning, we have now reached out to our companions to make them conscious of the doable connection and ask for their help,” Garcia said. “This contains the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Job Pressure. We're additionally working with North Texas police companions to find out if this legal motion has or is going down in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, May 12, 2022. A man opened fire inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three folks.

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

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

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

ABC's Jim Ryan stories:

ABC Information' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.