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

The incident could also be connected to shootings at Asian-run businesses, police mentioned.

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the May 11 capturing of three ladies in a hair salon in 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 businesses within the city, police stated.

The victims, the salon proprietor, an worker and a buyer, are all Korean, according to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal injuries and have been transported to a local 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 said that Smith was charged with three counts of aggravated assault.

"Throughout our investigation, detectives learned that two years in the past Smith had a motorcar crash with an Asian male," Garcia said. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic assaults and delusions when he is round anyone 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 Workplace 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 field office in Dallas informed ABC Information on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to thoroughly investigate this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we're not in a position to comment further at this time."

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

Two of the taking pictures victims – the proprietor and an employee – had been current at the meeting, in response to WFAA. The worker spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face coated. The ladies did not reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police proceed to investigate two other shootings which may be linked to the salon taking pictures.

"At the moment, there have been no arrests on those cases," Garcia mentioned, including that the investigation is ongoing.

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

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

Police said they realized from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a darkish colour minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane and then walked throughout the parking zone and into the establishment, allegedly opening hearth as quickly as he entered the salon.

Police also released a security image of a maroon minivan they mentioned the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the capturing at the salon is perhaps linked to one that happened a day earlier than and one which befell final month.

Police learned from witness reviews that on April 2, a driver in a pink minivan drove previous a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired pictures at three companies. No one was injured.

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

“Out of an abundance of caution, we now have reached out to our partners to make them conscious of the doable connection and ask for their help,” Garcia mentioned. “This contains the FBI and member businesses of the Joint Terrorism Activity Force. We are also working with North Texas police partners to find out if this prison motion has or is taking place in their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia mentioned police can be increasing the presence of high visibility patrol officers in areas in the city the place there are giant Asian American populations.

“We are turning to each resident of town of Dallas to maintain a watch out and safeguard our metropolis,” 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 experiences:

ABC Information' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.