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

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

17 Could 2022, 21:08

• 7 min read

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the Could 11 capturing of three girls in a hair salon within the city'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 in the metropolis, police said.

The victims, the salon owner, an worker and a customer, are all Korean, in response to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The women suffered nonfatal injuries and were transported to a local hospital, in response to police.

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

"Throughout our investigation, detectives realized that two years ago Smith had a motorcar crash with an Asian male," Garcia mentioned. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic assaults and delusions when he's around anybody 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. Lawyer’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 instructed ABC News on Monday. "We're in close communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to totally investigate this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we aren't able to comment additional at the moment."

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

Two of the capturing victims – the owner and an worker – had been present at 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 mentioned that police proceed to investigate two other shootings that could be linked to the salon capturing.

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced throughout a Friday press conference that regulation enforcement “concluded three recent shootings of Asian run businesses may be linked.” The suspect in each incident was driving an identical vehicle.

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

Police said they discovered from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what seemed to be "a darkish shade minivan-type automobile" on Royal Lane and then walked across the parking lot and into the establishment, allegedly opening fire as quickly as he entered the salon.

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

Garcia stated the capturing at the salon is likely to be linked to 1 that happened a day earlier than and one that occurred last month.

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

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

“Out of an abundance of caution, we've got reached out to our partners to make them aware of the possible connection and ask for his or her help,” Garcia mentioned. “This includes the FBI and member agencies of the Joint Terrorism Process Drive. We're also working with North Texas police companions to determine if this prison action has or is going down of their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, Could 12, 2022. A man opened fire contained in the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown area, wounding three people.

Garcia stated police shall be rising the presence of excessive visibility patrol officers in areas in the city the place there are massive Asian American populations.

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

These incidents in Dallas come amid a spate of attacks targeting Asian Individuals across the nation, which spiked through the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC's Jim Ryan reviews:

ABC News' Invoice Hutchinson and contributed to this report.