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

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

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with the Could 11 shooting 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 current shootings at Asian-run companies within the city, police mentioned.

The victims, the salon owner, an worker and a customer, are all Korean, according to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The ladies suffered nonfatal accidents and were transported to an area hospital, according to police.

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

"Throughout our investigation, detectives realized that two years in the past Smith had a motorcar crash with an Asian male," Garcia stated. "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 Area Workplace, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace 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 office in Dallas informed ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to thoroughly examine this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we're not capable of comment additional right now."

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

Two of the capturing victims – the proprietor and an worker – have been current on the assembly, based on WFAA. The worker spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face covered. The women didn't reveal their names.

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

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced throughout a Friday press conference that law enforcement “concluded three latest shootings of Asian run companies could also be linked.” The suspect in every incident was driving a similar car.

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

Police mentioned they learned from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a dark shade minivan-type vehicle" on Royal Lane and then walked throughout the parking lot and into the establishment, allegedly opening fireplace as quickly as he entered the salon.

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

Garcia said the capturing on the salon is perhaps linked to at least one that occurred a day earlier than and one which came about last month.

Police discovered from witness reports that on April 2, a driver in a purple minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run companies and fired shots at three companies. 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 mentioned.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we've reached out to our companions to make them conscious of the doable connection and ask for their help,” Garcia said. “This includes the FBI and member companies of the Joint Terrorism Activity Pressure. We're also working with North Texas police partners to find out if this legal action has or is taking place in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Could 12, 2022. A person opened hearth inside the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

Garcia mentioned police will probably be growing the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the metropolis the place there are large Asian American populations.

“We are turning to every resident of town of Dallas to keep an eye out and safeguard our metropolis,” 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 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC's Jim Ryan reports:

ABC News' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.