Suspect identified in Dallas salon taking pictures as FBI opens hate crime investigation

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

17 Could 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the Might 11 shooting of three women in a hair salon in the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and might be linked to a sequence of recent shootings at Asian-run businesses within the city, police mentioned.

The victims, the salon owner, an worker and a buyer, are all Korean, in keeping with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The ladies suffered nonfatal accidents and have been transported to a neighborhood hospital, in line with police.

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

"Throughout our investigation, detectives realized that two years in the past Smith had a motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia mentioned. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic assaults and delusions when he's round 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 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 instructed ABC News on Monday. "We're in shut communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to thoroughly investigate this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we're not capable of comment additional at the moment."

Police met with community members at a city hall in Koreatown on Monday amid concerns for the general public's security.

Two of the shooting victims – the proprietor and an worker – have been current at the meeting, in keeping with WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face coated. The women didn't reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police proceed to research two different shootings that could be linked to the salon taking pictures.

"Right now, 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 convention that legislation enforcement “concluded three latest shootings of Asian run businesses could also be related.” The suspect in each incident was driving an identical car.

This photograph reveals the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Might 12, 2022. Police are on the lookout for a man who opened fireplace contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three folks.

Police stated they realized from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what appeared to be "a darkish shade minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane and then walked throughout the parking zone 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 capturing at the salon might be linked to 1 that happened a day before and one which occurred final month.

Police learned from witness experiences that on April 2, a driver in a crimson minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run companies and fired pictures at three companies. Nobody was injured.

And on Could 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or automotive drove by and shot into Asian-run businesses close to 4849 Sunnyvale Street, police mentioned.

“Out of an abundance of warning, we have reached out to our partners to make them conscious of the attainable connection and ask for their assistance,” Garcia said. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Process Pressure. We're also working with North Texas police companions to find out if this felony action has or is happening in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, May 12, 2022. A man opened fire contained in the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three individuals.

Garcia said police will likely be increasing the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the city the place there are giant Asian American populations.

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

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

ABC's Jim Ryan studies:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.