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

The incident may be connected to shootings at Asian-run companies, police stated.

17 Could 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the Might 11 taking pictures of three women in a hair salon in the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and could be linked to a sequence of latest shootings at Asian-run businesses in the city, police mentioned.

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

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia recognized 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 realized 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 attacks and delusions when he's round 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. 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 field office in Dallas told ABC Information on Monday. "We are in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to completely investigate this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we're not capable of comment further at the moment."

Police met with group members at a city corridor in Koreatown on Monday amid issues for the public's security.

Two of the shooting victims – the owner and an worker – have been present on the assembly, in response to WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face coated. The women didn't reveal their names.

Garcia said that police proceed to analyze two other shootings that could be linked to the salon shooting.

"At the moment, there have been no arrests on those instances," Garcia stated, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced during a Friday press conference that law enforcement “concluded three current shootings of Asian run businesses may be connected.” The suspect in every incident was driving a similar car.

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

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

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

Garcia said the shooting on the salon is perhaps linked to 1 that occurred a day before and one which came about last month.

Police learned from witness stories 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. Nobody 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 said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have reached out to our companions to make them conscious of the attainable connection and ask for his or her help,” Garcia said. “This contains the FBI and member businesses of the Joint Terrorism Activity Force. We're also working with North Texas police companions to determine if this felony motion has or is happening of their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia mentioned police will be increasing the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas within the metropolis where there are large Asian American populations.

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

These incidents in Dallas come amid a spate of assaults targeting Asian Individuals across the nation, which spiked throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC's Jim Ryan stories:

ABC Information' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.