Suspect in shooting of three Korean women in US had ‘delusions about Asians’, authorities say
- The FBI has opened a hate crime probe into the incident at a Texas hair salon that left three wounded, in echoes of last year’s Atlanta attacks
- Police say Jeremy Theron Smith, 36, was in a car crash involving an Asian man, and has since had panic attacks when around anyone of Asian descent
Dallas police arrested a suspect in connection with last week’s shooting at a Koreatown hair salon that wounded three women of Asian descent, and federal authorities have opened a hate crime investigation, officials said on Tuesday.
Authorities said the alleged gunman – identified by police as Jeremy Theron Smith, 36 – harboured delusions about Asian people since having a car crash involving an Asian man two years ago.
Since the crash, “Smith has had panic attacks and delusions when he is around anyone of Asian descent,” Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia told reporters.
The suspect has been charged with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon. Smith was booked early on Tuesday and is being held in Dallas County jail.
The FBI along with the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas and the civil rights division of the US Department of Justice announced they had launched a hate crime investigation into the shooting.
The shooter entered a hair salon in the city’s Koreatown section on Wednesday, opened fire and wounded the owner of the Hair World Salon, a stylist who worked there and a customer. All three were Korean women. They were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening wounds.