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

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

17 Could 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

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

The victims, the salon owner, an employee and a customer, are all Korean, in response to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal accidents and had been transported to an area hospital, in response to police.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia recognized the suspect as 36-year-old Jeremy Smith during 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 motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia said. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he's round anybody of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Discipline Office, the U.S. Attorney’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 office in Dallas informed ABC Information on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to completely examine this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we are not capable of comment additional at the moment."

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

Two of the taking pictures victims – the proprietor and an worker – were current at the meeting, based on WFAA. The worker spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face covered. The women did not reveal their names.

Garcia stated that police proceed to research two other shootings that may be linked to the salon shooting.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Police realized from witness stories that on April 2, a driver in a red minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired pictures at three companies. Nobody was injured.

And on May 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or car drove by and shot into Asian-run companies near 4849 Sunnyvale Street, police mentioned.

“Out of an abundance of caution, now we have reached out to our companions to make them conscious of the possible connection and ask for his or her help,” Garcia mentioned. “This consists of the FBI and member companies of the Joint Terrorism Job Pressure. We are also working with North Texas police partners to determine if this legal motion has or is happening in their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, May 12, 2022. A man opened fireplace contained in the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

Garcia stated police might be growing the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the city where there are giant Asian American populations.

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

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

ABC's Jim Ryan experiences:

ABC Information' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.