Suspect identified in Dallas salon shooting 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 learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the May 11 capturing of three ladies in a hair salon within the metropolis's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and could possibly be linked to a series of recent shootings at Asian-run businesses in the city, police mentioned.

The victims, the salon proprietor, an employee and a customer, are all Korean, in keeping with ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The ladies suffered nonfatal injuries and have been transported to a local hospital, according to police.

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

"During our investigation, detectives learned that two years in the past Smith had a motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia mentioned. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he's around anybody 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. 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 told ABC Information 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 additional at the moment."

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

Two of the shooting victims – the owner and an employee – had been current at the meeting, in line with WFAA. The worker spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face coated. The women did not reveal their names.

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

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

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

This picture shows the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Police are on the lookout for a man who opened fireplace contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three folks.

Police stated they realized from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a dark colour minivan-type vehicle" on Royal Lane after which walked across the parking lot and into the institution, allegedly opening fire as soon as he entered the salon.

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

Garcia said the capturing on the salon is perhaps linked to 1 that happened a day earlier than and one that occurred last month.

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

And on Might 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or automobile drove by and shot into Asian-run businesses near 4849 Sunnyvale Street, police stated.

“Out of an abundance of warning, we now have reached out to our partners to make them aware of the doable connection and ask for his or her assistance,” Garcia stated. “This contains the FBI and member companies of the Joint Terrorism Task Drive. We are additionally working with North Texas police companions to determine if this criminal action has or is happening of their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia stated police will likely be rising the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the metropolis where there are large Asian American populations.

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

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

ABC's Jim Ryan reports:

ABC Information' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.