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

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

17 Might 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the Might 11 capturing of three girls in a hair salon within the metropolis's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and might be linked to a series of latest shootings at Asian-run companies in the metropolis, police stated.

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

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

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

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

"The Dallas FBI Field 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 field office in Dallas told ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to totally investigate this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we are not capable of comment further right now."

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

Two of the taking pictures victims – the proprietor and an worker – were present on the assembly, in keeping with WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face coated. The ladies did not reveal their names.

Garcia said that police continue to analyze two other shootings which may be linked to the salon capturing.

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced during a Friday press convention that law enforcement “concluded three recent shootings of Asian run businesses may be connected.” The suspect in each incident was driving an analogous vehicle.

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

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

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

Garcia stated the shooting on the salon is likely to be linked to 1 that occurred a day earlier than and one that occurred last month.

Police realized from witness reports that on April 2, a driver in a pink minivan drove past 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 car drove by and shot into Asian-run businesses close to 4849 Sunnyvale Avenue, police stated.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have now reached out to our partners to make them conscious of the potential connection and ask for his or her assistance,” Garcia stated. “This consists of the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Process Pressure. We're additionally working with North Texas police companions to determine if this felony action has or is going down in their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia said police can 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 the city of Dallas to maintain an eye out and safeguard our city,” Garcia said. “Hate has no place here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan reports:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.