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

The incident could also be connected to shootings at Asian-run businesses, police stated.

17 May 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the Could 11 taking pictures of three women in a hair salon within the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and might be linked to a collection of recent shootings at Asian-run companies in the metropolis, police stated.

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

"During our investigation, detectives realized that two years ago Smith had a motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia said. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic assaults 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 Discipline Office, the U.S. Attorney’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 field workplace in Dallas told ABC News on Monday. "We are in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to thoroughly examine this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we aren't capable of comment further at the moment."

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

Two of the shooting victims – the owner and an employee – have been present 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 said that police proceed to investigate two different shootings that could be linked to the salon taking pictures.

"Right now, there have been no arrests on those circumstances," Garcia said, including that the investigation is ongoing.

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

This picture reveals the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Police are searching for a person who opened fire contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three folks.

Police mentioned they learned from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what gave the impression to be "a darkish coloration minivan-type vehicle" on Royal Lane after which walked throughout the car parking zone and into the institution, allegedly opening hearth as soon as he entered the salon.

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

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

Police discovered from witness studies that on April 2, a driver in a pink minivan drove past a strip mall of Asian-run companies and fired photographs at three businesses. 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 Road, police mentioned.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have now reached out to our companions to make them aware of the doable connection and ask for his or her assistance,” Garcia said. “This includes the FBI and member companies of the Joint Terrorism Job Power. We're also working with North Texas police partners to determine if this criminal motion has or is happening of their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia stated police can be rising 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 town of Dallas to keep a watch out and safeguard our metropolis,” Garcia stated. “Hate has no place right here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan experiences:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.