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

The incident could also be related to shootings at Asian-run businesses, police stated.

17 Might 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the Might 11 shooting of three girls 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 current shootings at Asian-run companies within the city, police said.

The victims, the salon owner, an worker and a customer, are all Korean, in keeping with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal injuries and have been transported to an area hospital, in line with police.

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

"Throughout our investigation, detectives learned that two years ago Smith had a motorized vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia said. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic assaults and delusions when he is round anybody of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Area Office, the U.S. Lawyer’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 told ABC Information on Monday. "We're in shut communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to thoroughly investigate this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we aren't able to comment further at this time."

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

Two of the taking pictures victims – the owner and an employee – had been current on the meeting, in keeping with WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face covered. The ladies didn't reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police proceed to analyze two different shootings that could be linked to the salon shooting.

"Presently, there have been no arrests on these cases," Garcia said, adding 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 companies could also be related.” The suspect in every incident was driving an analogous car.

This photograph exhibits the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Might 12, 2022. Police are in search of a man who opened hearth contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

Police mentioned they learned from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what appeared to be "a dark colour minivan-type car" on Royal Lane after which walked throughout the car parking zone and into the establishment, allegedly opening fire as soon as he entered the salon.

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

Garcia mentioned the capturing on the salon might be linked to at least one that happened a day before and one which befell final month.

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

And on May 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or automobile drove by and shot into Asian-run companies near 4849 Sunnyvale Road, police said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have now reached out to our partners to make them aware of the doable connection and ask for their assistance,” Garcia mentioned. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Task Power. We're additionally working with North Texas police partners to find out if this prison motion has or is happening of their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, May 12, 2022. A person opened fire contained in the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three people.

Garcia stated police might be rising the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas within the metropolis where there are giant Asian American populations.

“We're turning to each resident of town of Dallas to maintain a watch out and safeguard our city,” Garcia mentioned. “Hate has no place here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan reviews:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.