Dallas hair salon shooting suspect arrested

Last week on May 11, a gunman walked into Hair World Salon and shot three Asian women. Now, Dallas police have arrested the suspect. Jeremy Theron Smith, 36, has been arrested and detained on three charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, with a bond set at $300,000.

Photo: Rebecca Slezak / The Dallas Morning News

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Smith’s girlfriend said he had “delusions” of Asian Americans or the Asian mob trying to harm him after he was in a car crash with an Asian man which has also resulted in him being admitted to several mental health facilities. Since that incident, Smith’s girlfriend said he "has had near panic attacks when he is around anyone of Asian descent.” She also told police that Smith had been fired from his job at a beauty supply warehouse after verbally attacking his boss who was Asian.

The suspect, Jeremy Theron Smith. Photo: Dallas County Jail.

While police previously said there was no evidence this shooting was biased or hate-related, they have quickly changed course and believe the suspect targeted the victims because of their ethnicity. "Right now, it's an issue of hate. It's a hate crime. However that manifests itself, I'm not here to say that. I can tell you that I know our community sees it as a hate crime. I see it as a hate crime and so do our men and women," Dallas police Chief Eddie Garcia said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

An FBI spokesperson has confirmed that the Dallas FBI Field Office, 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.

It is still unknown whether or not Smith is connected to two other shootings in Dallas that also targeted Asian-owned businesses on April 2 and May 10.