Dallas hair salon shooting suspect indicted on 7 counts of aggravated assault

The person accused of capturing three girls at a northwest Dallas hair salon in an assault authorities say was a hate crime has been indicted on a number of felony fees.

A Dallas County grand jury handed up indictments Tuesday morning in opposition to Jeremy Theron Smith, 37, on seven counts of aggravated assault. Police say Smith shot three girls of Korean descent on Could 11; 4 different folks within the constructing have been unhurt.

Police allege Smith entered the salon within the 2200 block of Royal Lane with a .22-caliber rifle and fired 13 occasions earlier than fleeing in a purple van. A witness noticed a part of the van’s license plate, which led authorities to Smith.

Smith was arrested a number of days after the assault and remained in custody Tuesday on the Dallas County jail, with bail set at $700,000.

Smith’s lawyer, Don Guidry, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Bias will increase potential sentence

Dallas County District Lawyer John Creuzot mentioned the grand jury discovered Smith not solely dedicated aggravated assault, however did so with a racial bias. Creuzot mentioned the bias element will increase the potential punishment on every depend — normally two to twenty years for aggravated assault — to 5 to 99 years or life in jail.

Following the capturing, Dallas police Chief Eddie García backtracked on earlier statements when he declared the assault a hate crime.

“It’s a hate crime,” García mentioned then. “Nevertheless that manifests itself, I’m not right here to say. I can inform you I do know our neighborhood sees it as a hate crime, and I see it as a hate crime.”

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson mentioned in an announcement on the time that it was a “chilling and deeply disturbing” conclusion.

“I would like our metropolis’s Asian American neighborhood — which has appallingly confronted rising vitriol lately — to know that the Metropolis of Dallas and the folks of Dallas stand with them,” Johnson mentioned.

‘Delusions’ about Asian folks

In accordance with an arrest-warrant affidavit, Smith’s girlfriend advised police he had been admitted to a number of mental-health services due to his delusions about Asian folks, by which he believes “the Asian mob is after him or making an attempt to hurt him.”

The girlfriend mentioned the delusions began about two years in the past after Smith was concerned in a automotive crash with an Asian man.

Smith had additionally been fired from a earlier job for “verbally attacking” his boss, who was Asian, his girlfriend advised authorities.

García mentioned the salon assault could have been linked to 2 different shootings concentrating on Dallas’ Asian neighborhood.

On April 2, somebody shot into three Asian-owned companies within the 2200 block of Royal Lane, and witnesses mentioned the shooter fled in a purple van. Nobody was injured.

The day earlier than the salon capturing, somebody believed to be driving a purple van fired into an Asian-run enterprise in east Oak Cliff. Nobody was harm in that capturing both.

It was unclear Tuesday whether or not fees had been filed in these instances.

‘Nightmare. Trauma. Insomnia.’

Within the months because the capturing, the victims and their households have grappled with trauma; ache, worry and nightmares have disrupted their lives and their companies.

John Park, a doctor in New York, mentioned his mom, who has not been publicly recognized, was one of many three girls wounded on the salon. She was shot in her gluteal space, whereas one other sufferer was shot within the arm and the third was injured in each of her toes.

Park mentioned earlier than the assault, his mom was an energetic one who loved {golfing}, gardening and going out to eat along with her mates at Korean eating places, and would often volunteer at nursing properties along with her different son. After the capturing, nonetheless, Park mentioned she has displayed signs of post-traumatic stress dysfunction, together with being unable to sleep, and what he believes are indicators of melancholy.

The lady shot within the arm, who requested to be recognized as M.J., was a head designer on the salon, however mentioned her accidents had brought about immense ache, stopping her from utilizing her proper arm.

“Extra painful factor is the sensation that why this occur to me,” she mentioned. “Nightmare. Trauma. Insomnia.”