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

The incident may be linked to shootings at Asian-run businesses, police stated.

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the Might 11 taking pictures of three women 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 city, police said.

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

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia recognized the suspect as 36-year-old Jeremy Smith during a press conference on Tuesday. Garcia said 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 said. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he is round 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. Attorney’s Office 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 subject office in Dallas told ABC Information on Monday. "We are in shut communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to completely investigate this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we are not capable of remark further at the moment."

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

Two of the taking pictures victims – the proprietor and an employee – have been current at the assembly, in accordance with WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face covered. The women didn't reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police continue to research two different shootings that may be linked to the salon shooting.

"Presently, there have been no arrests on these instances," Garcia said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced during a Friday press convention that legislation enforcement “concluded three current shootings of Asian run companies may be related.” The suspect in every incident was driving an analogous automobile.

This photograph shows the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Police are on the lookout for a man who opened fireplace inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three individuals.

Police mentioned they discovered from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a darkish colour minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane after which walked throughout the parking lot and into the institution, allegedly opening fireplace as soon as he entered the salon.

Police additionally released a security picture of a maroon minivan they stated the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia stated the shooting on the salon might be linked to 1 that happened a day earlier than and one that passed off final month.

Police learned from witness experiences that on April 2, a driver in a crimson minivan drove previous 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 automobile drove by and shot into Asian-run businesses near 4849 Sunnyvale Street, police said.

“Out of an abundance of warning, we have reached out to our companions to make them aware of the possible connection and ask for his or her assistance,” Garcia said. “This contains the FBI and member businesses of the Joint Terrorism Activity Force. We are additionally working with North Texas police partners to find out if this legal motion has or is going down in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Could 12, 2022. A person opened fire inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three individuals.

Garcia said police will probably be rising the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas within the metropolis the place there are massive Asian American populations.

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

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

ABC's Jim Ryan studies:

ABC Information' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.