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

The incident may be related to shootings at Asian-run companies, police stated.

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the Might 11 shooting of three women in a hair salon within the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and may very well be linked to a sequence of latest shootings at Asian-run companies in the city, police stated.

The victims, the salon owner, 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 neighborhood hospital, in response to 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.

"Throughout our investigation, detectives learned that two years in the past 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 anyone of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Area 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 area workplace in Dallas told ABC Information on Monday. "We are in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to thoroughly investigate this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we are not capable of remark further right now."

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

Two of the capturing victims – the proprietor and an worker – were current at the assembly, in accordance with WFAA. The worker spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face coated. The women didn't reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police continue to analyze two other shootings that could be linked to the salon shooting.

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced throughout a Friday press convention that regulation enforcement “concluded three recent shootings of Asian run businesses could also be linked.” The suspect in each incident was driving the same vehicle.

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

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

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

Garcia mentioned the capturing at the salon might be linked to one that occurred a day earlier than and one that befell final month.

Police realized from witness reports that on April 2, a driver in a purple minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired shots 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 close to 4849 Sunnyvale Avenue, police mentioned.

“Out of an abundance of warning, we've reached out to our companions to make them conscious of the potential connection and ask for their help,” Garcia said. “This consists of the FBI and member businesses of the Joint Terrorism Process Pressure. We are also working with North Texas police partners to find out if this criminal action has or is taking place in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Might 12, 2022. A man opened fire inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

Garcia said police can be increasing the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the city where there are massive Asian American populations.

“We're turning to every resident of the city of Dallas to maintain an eye out and safeguard our city,” Garcia mentioned. “Hate has no place here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan reports:

ABC Information' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.