A shooting at a Dallas hair salon that injured three women of Korean descent may be part of a string of shootings targeting Asian businesses, police said Friday.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said a similar vehicle was used in three recent shootings, including Wednesday’s attack at a hair salon described as Korean-owned.
Police have not publicly identified a suspect.
The motive in the shootings is unknown, though Garcia indicated Friday’s case is now a hate crime investigation, just a day after he said “we can confidently say that hate was not a motivating factor.”
The chief said that when he made that comment, the facts hadn’t yet led to a possible link between the shootings.
“Oftentimes it does take this long,” he said. “I’m very fortunate that our hard-working men and women did put it together so that we can clarify some things, in the abundance of caution, to give our communities a heads-up.”
If the root of the attacks turns out to be hate, Garcia said, “It has no place here.”
Detectives are working to see if there was a ballistics match for the three attacks. He announced the possible link at an afternoon news conference.
The first two attacks happened on April 2 and May 10 and were characterized by Garcia as drive-by shootings that appeared to target Asian American businesses. Witnesses described a red or burgundy minivan or vehicle in those incidents; a similar older-model minivan was described at Wednesday’s shooting at Hair World Salon.
Nobody was injured in the previous incidents.
The most recent shooting happened not far from the first drive-by in the northwest Dallas neighborhood.
Police Sgt. Warren Mitchell said earlier that the victims sustained injuries to their extremities and were hospitalized with non-life-threatening wounds.
Salon owner Chang Hye Jin, 44, was among those wounded and said she thought from the start that the shooting was a hate crime.
“It especially feels targeted because he didn’t even demand money,” she said. “He just came in to shoot people.”
The salon’s front door is usually locked and opened for each customer, but the business was so busy Wednesday that the door was left open, Chang said.
