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

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

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the May 11 shooting of three girls in a hair salon within the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and could be linked to a sequence of current shootings at Asian-run companies in the metropolis, police mentioned.

The victims, the salon owner, an employee and a buyer, are all Korean, according to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal injuries and had been transported to a neighborhood hospital, in response to police.

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

"During our investigation, detectives learned that two years ago Smith had a motorcar crash with an Asian male," Garcia mentioned. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he is around anyone of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Subject 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 subject workplace in Dallas instructed ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to completely investigate this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we are not able to comment additional presently."

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

Two of the capturing victims – the owner and an employee – have been present on the assembly, in accordance with WFAA. The employee spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face coated. The women did not reveal their names.

Garcia stated that police continue to research two other shootings which may be linked to the salon taking pictures.

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced throughout a Friday press conference that regulation enforcement “concluded three latest shootings of Asian run businesses may be related.” The suspect in each incident was driving a similar vehicle.

This picture exhibits the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Could 12, 2022. Police are on the lookout for a man who opened fire inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three individuals.

Police stated they realized from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a dark shade minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane after which walked throughout the car parking zone and into the establishment, allegedly opening fireplace as quickly as he entered the salon.

Police additionally released a safety picture of a maroon minivan they mentioned the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the taking pictures on the salon is perhaps linked to one that occurred a day before and one which occurred final month.

Police realized from witness reviews 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 Might 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or automotive drove by and shot into Asian-run businesses near 4849 Sunnyvale Street, police mentioned.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we've reached out to our partners to make them aware of the doable connection and ask for his or her help,” Garcia mentioned. “This contains the FBI and member businesses of the Joint Terrorism Task Pressure. We are also working with North Texas police partners to determine if this felony motion has or is going down in their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia mentioned police can be growing the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the metropolis the place there are massive Asian American populations.

“We're turning to every resident of town of Dallas to keep a watch out and safeguard our city,” Garcia said. “Hate has no place right here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan reviews:

ABC Information' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.