TEXAS: DALLAS The man, identified as Jeremy Smith, accused of shooting three Asian women at a living room in Koreatown in Dallas, has been charged with seven counts of aggravated assault. According to the sources, each offense is punishable by a sentence of five to 99 years in prison.
Jeremy Smith was captured on surveillance video returning to his four-wheeler
At Hair World Salon in the Koreatown neighborhood of northwest Dallas on May 11, Smith, 37, is suspected of shooting three Korean women, including the salon owner, a stylist and a customer. According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the shooter fired approximately 13 times at the victims with a .22 caliber rifle, according to NBC. After being hospitalized with gunshot wounds, the women were released. According to CBS, Smith was held on $700,000 bond after being arrested by Dallas police on May 16. According to an AP report, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office announced the indictment on Tuesday, Aug. 9, which included seven counts of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, each with an enhancement. a hate crime and punishable by five to 99 years in prison. Smith is believed to have singled out the plaintiffs on purpose because of his bigotry or bias against Asian Americans, it reads.
According to an earlier AP report, Smith’s fiancee told authorities he had illusions about Asian Americans since he was involved in a car accident with an Asian man he two years ago. She claimed that due to his delusions, he was admitted to numerous mental health facilities. He’s starting to believe that the Asian mob is chasing him or trying to hurt him, the woman claimed. She also mentioned that he lost his job after verbally attacking his Asian-American supervisor.
After the incident, Smith was seen in security footage returning to his four-wheeled vehicle, a Honda Odyssey minivan, carrying an “assault gun”. Police are currently investigating the incident.
Anti-Asian American violence
According to AP, six of the eight people killed in a shooting at massage parlors in and around Atlanta in 2021 were Asian women. Jose Gomez III, a 21-year-old from Texas, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for beating an Asian family in 2020 because he believed they were Chinese and responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic.
A non-profit organization in California called the Asian American-Pacific Islander Equity Alliance compiled reports on 10,370 hate crimes that occurred between March 2020 and September 2021. The study presented data on hate crimes, including 4,599 cases from 2020 and 5,771 cases from 2021.
