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

The incident could also be related to shootings at Asian-run businesses, police said.

17 Could 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

Dallas police arrested a suspect in reference to the Might 11 capturing of three ladies in a hair salon within the city's Koreatown. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and could be linked to a collection of current shootings at Asian-run businesses in the metropolis, police said.

The victims, the salon proprietor, an worker and a customer, are all Korean, according to ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The ladies suffered nonfatal injuries and were transported to an area hospital, in keeping with police.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia recognized 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 ago Smith had a motor vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia mentioned. "Since this crash, Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he is round anybody of Asian descent."

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

"The Dallas FBI Area 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 field office in Dallas instructed ABC News on Monday. "We are in shut communication with Dallas Police and are partnering collectively to completely investigate this incident. As that is an ongoing investigation, we're not in a position to remark additional right now."

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

Two of the shooting victims – the owner and an employee – had been present on the assembly, based on WFAA. The employee spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and her was face lined. The ladies did not reveal their names.

Garcia said that police continue to analyze two other shootings that could be linked to the salon capturing.

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia announced throughout a Friday press convention that regulation enforcement “concluded three current shootings of Asian run companies could also be related.” The suspect in each incident was driving an identical automobile.

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

Police said they learned from a witness report that an unknown Black male parked in what appeared to be "a dark coloration 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 stated the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia mentioned the taking pictures on the salon may be linked to at least one that happened a day before and one which took place last month.

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

And on Could 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 warning, we have now reached out to our partners to make them aware of the possible connection and ask for his or her assistance,” Garcia said. “This includes the FBI and member companies of the Joint Terrorism Job Power. We are also working with North Texas police companions to find out if this legal motion has or is taking place in their jurisdictions.”

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

Garcia said police will probably 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 town of Dallas to keep an eye out and safeguard our city,” Garcia stated. “Hate has no place here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan studies:

ABC Information' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.