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

The incident could also be linked to shootings at Asian-run companies, police mentioned.

17 Might 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

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

The victims, the salon proprietor, an worker and a buyer, are all Korean, in keeping with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The ladies suffered nonfatal accidents and were transported to a neighborhood hospital, based on police.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia identified 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.

"During our investigation, detectives learned that two years in the past Smith had a motorcar crash with an Asian male," Garcia mentioned. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic assaults 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 Office, 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 subject workplace in Dallas advised ABC News on Monday. "We're in shut communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to totally examine this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we aren't capable of remark further right now."

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

Two of the shooting victims – the proprietor and an worker – were current at the meeting, in response to WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face lined. The ladies didn't reveal their names.

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

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced throughout a Friday press conference that law enforcement “concluded three recent shootings of Asian run companies could also be related.” The suspect in every incident was driving a similar vehicle.

This picture shows the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Might 12, 2022. Police are in search of a man who opened hearth inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three people.

Police stated they discovered from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a darkish shade minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane and then walked across the parking lot and into the establishment, allegedly opening fireplace as quickly as he entered the salon.

Police also launched a safety picture of a maroon minivan they mentioned the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia mentioned the capturing at the salon is perhaps linked to at least one that happened a day before and one which passed off last month.

Police learned from witness reviews that on April 2, a driver in a purple minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run companies and fired photographs at three businesses. 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 Street, police said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have now reached out to our partners to make them conscious of the doable connection and ask for their help,” Garcia said. “This consists of the FBI and member businesses of the Joint Terrorism Task Drive. We are additionally working with North Texas police partners to determine if this felony action has or is taking place of their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Could 12, 2022. A man opened hearth contained in the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

Garcia said police shall be increasing the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas within the metropolis the place there are large Asian American populations.

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

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

ABC's Jim Ryan studies:

ABC Information' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.