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 stated.

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the Might 11 capturing of three girls in a hair salon within the metropolis's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and might be linked to a collection of latest shootings at Asian-run businesses within the metropolis, police said.

The victims, the salon proprietor, an worker and a buyer, are all Korean, in accordance with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal injuries and had been transported to a local hospital, in keeping with police.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia recognized 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.

"During our investigation, detectives discovered that two years in the past Smith had a motorized vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia stated. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks 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 Area Office, 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 field workplace in Dallas told ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to totally examine this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we're not in a position to comment additional at the moment."

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

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

Garcia mentioned that police proceed to analyze two other shootings which may be linked to the salon capturing.

"Presently, there have been no arrests on these instances," Garcia mentioned, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced during a Friday press convention that regulation enforcement “concluded three recent shootings of Asian run companies could also be connected.” The suspect in each incident was driving an analogous vehicle.

This picture reveals the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Police are searching for a man who opened hearth inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three folks.

Police said they realized from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what appeared to be "a dark colour minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane and then walked throughout the parking zone and into the establishment, allegedly opening hearth as soon as he entered the salon.

Police additionally launched a security image of a maroon minivan they mentioned the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia mentioned the shooting on the salon could be linked to one that occurred a day before and one that happened last month.

Police realized from witness experiences that on April 2, a driver in a purple minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired shots at three businesses. Nobody 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 Avenue, police said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have reached out to our companions to make them aware of the attainable connection and ask for his or her assistance,” Garcia stated. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Activity Drive. We're also working with North Texas police partners to find out if this prison action has or is going down in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Could 12, 2022. A person opened fireplace contained in the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three individuals.

Garcia mentioned police shall be increasing the presence of high visibility patrol officers in areas in the metropolis the place there are massive Asian American populations.

“We are turning to each resident of town 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 assaults focusing on Asian Americans across the nation, which spiked in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC's Jim Ryan experiences:

ABC News' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.