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

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

17 Might 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the May 11 taking pictures of three girls in a hair salon in the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and may very well be linked to a collection of latest shootings at Asian-run businesses within the city, police stated.

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

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

"During our investigation, detectives learned that two years ago Smith had a motorcar crash with an Asian male," Garcia said. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he is round anyone of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Discipline Workplace, the U.S. Attorney’s Office 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 instructed ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to totally examine this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we aren't capable of comment additional presently."

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

Two of the shooting victims – the owner and an worker – were current on the meeting, based on WFAA. The worker spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face coated. The ladies did not reveal their names.

Garcia said that police continue to investigate two different shootings that could be linked to the salon capturing.

"At the moment, there have been no arrests on those cases," Garcia mentioned, including that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced during a Friday press convention that law enforcement “concluded three current shootings of Asian run companies may be linked.” The suspect in every incident was driving an analogous car.

This photo shows the interior of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Police are looking for a man who opened fire contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three people.

Police said they realized from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a darkish color minivan-type vehicle" on Royal Lane and then walked across the parking lot and into the institution, allegedly opening fireplace as quickly 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 at least one that happened a day before and one which took place last month.

Police discovered from witness reviews that on April 2, a driver in a crimson 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 car drove by and shot into Asian-run businesses near 4849 Sunnyvale Avenue, police mentioned.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we've got reached out to our partners to make them aware of the potential connection and ask for their assistance,” Garcia said. “This consists of the FBI and member businesses of the Joint Terrorism Job Force. We're also working with North Texas police companions to find out if this legal action has or is happening of their jurisdictions.”

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

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

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

ABC's Jim Ryan reviews:

ABC Information' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.