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

The incident may be connected 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 Might 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 be linked to a sequence of current shootings at Asian-run businesses within the metropolis, police said.

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

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

"Throughout our investigation, detectives learned that two years in the past Smith had a motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia stated. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he's around anyone of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Subject Office, 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 office in Dallas instructed ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to totally examine this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we are not capable of remark further at the moment."

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

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

Garcia mentioned that police continue to research two other shootings which may be linked to the salon shooting.

"At the moment, there have been no arrests on these instances," Garcia mentioned, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced during a Friday press conference that regulation enforcement “concluded three latest shootings of Asian run businesses could also be related.” The suspect in every incident was driving a similar automobile.

This photo exhibits the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, Might 12, 2022. Police are searching for a man who opened fire contained in the salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three folks.

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

Police also released a security picture of a maroon minivan they stated the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia stated the capturing at the salon might be linked to one that occurred a day earlier than and one which happened 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 photographs at three businesses. No one was injured.

And on May 10, a suspect in a burgundy van or automobile drove by and shot into Asian-run businesses close to 4849 Sunnyvale Road, police mentioned.

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

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

Garcia said police might be rising the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the city where there are large Asian American populations.

“We are turning to every resident of the city of Dallas to maintain an eye out and safeguard our metropolis,” Garcia mentioned. “Hate has no place here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan reports:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.