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

The incident may be linked to shootings at Asian-run businesses, police said.

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

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

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

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

"Throughout our investigation, detectives realized 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 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 Field Office, the U.S. Lawyer’s Office 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 office in Dallas instructed ABC News on Monday. "We are in shut communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to totally investigate this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we aren't in a position to comment further right now."

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

Two of the taking pictures victims – the proprietor and an employee – have been current on the assembly, in keeping with WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face lined. The women did not reveal their names.

Garcia mentioned that police continue to research two different shootings that could be linked to the salon shooting.

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced throughout a Friday press conference that law enforcement “concluded three current shootings of Asian run companies could also be connected.” The suspect in each incident was driving an identical automobile.

This photo exhibits the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Could 12, 2022. Police are looking for a person who opened hearth inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

Police stated they discovered from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a dark color minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane and then walked across the car parking zone and into the institution, allegedly opening hearth as quickly as he entered the salon.

Police also released a safety image of a maroon minivan they said the shooter fled the scene in.

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

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

And on Could 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or automotive drove by and shot into Asian-run businesses close to 4849 Sunnyvale Avenue, police stated.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have reached out to our companions to make them conscious of the potential connection and ask for their help,” Garcia mentioned. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Process Power. We're also working with North Texas police companions to find out if this legal action has or is going down in their jurisdictions.”

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

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

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

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

ABC's Jim Ryan experiences:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.