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

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

17 Might 2022, 21:08

• 7 min learn

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

The victims, the salon owner, an employee and a customer, are all Korean, based on ABC affiliate station WFAA in Dallas. The ladies suffered nonfatal accidents and have been transported to a local hospital, in line with police.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia identified the suspect as 36-year-old Jeremy Smith throughout 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 motorized vehicle crash with an Asian male," Garcia said. "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 Area Office, the U.S. Legal professional’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 informed ABC Information on Monday. "We're in shut communication with Dallas Police and are partnering together to completely investigate this incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, we aren't capable of comment additional presently."

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

Two of the taking pictures victims – the owner and an employee – have been current on the assembly, based on WFAA. The employee spoke with the help of an interpreter and her was face lined. The ladies did not reveal their names.

Garcia stated that police continue to research two other shootings that could be linked to the salon capturing.

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

The arrest comes days after Garcia introduced during a Friday press convention that legislation enforcement “concluded three recent shootings of Asian run companies may be linked.” The suspect in each incident was driving a similar automobile.

This photograph shows the inside of Hair World Salon in Dallas on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Police are searching for a person who opened hearth inside the salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three individuals.

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

Police also released a security image of a maroon minivan they said the shooter fled the scene in.

Garcia said the taking pictures on the salon could be linked to one that occurred a day earlier than and one that occurred last month.

Police learned from witness stories that on April 2, a driver in a purple minivan drove previous a strip mall of Asian-run businesses and fired photographs at three businesses. Nobody was injured.

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

“Out of an abundance of caution, we now have reached out to our companions to make them conscious of the potential connection and ask for their help,” Garcia said. “This contains the FBI and member businesses of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. We're also working with North Texas police companions to find out if this prison motion has or is happening of their jurisdictions.”

Hair World Salon in Dallas, May 12, 2022. A person opened hearth contained in the hair salon in Dallas' Koreatown space, wounding three people.

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

“We are turning to every resident of the town of Dallas to maintain a watch out and safeguard our city,” Garcia mentioned. “Hate has no place right here.”

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

ABC's Jim Ryan reports:

ABC News' Bill Hutchinson and contributed to this report.