DALLAS — A van belonging to the suspect arrested in the shooting at a Dallas Koreatown salon matched the description of the van seen on surveillance video during the shooting, according to a Dallas Police Department arrest warrant affidavit obtained Tuesday by WFAA.
Jeremy Theron Smith, 37, was arrested early Tuesday on three charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to Dallas County jail records. His bond was set at $300,000. On Wednesday, four additional aggravated assault charges were added, giving Smith seven total. The four charges stemmed from the four other people inside the salon who were not injured.
New details from the arrest affidavit emerge after Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia told the media that the FBI was investigating the shooting as a hate crime. On Friday, Chief Garcia stated that the salon shooting was possibly related to a string of recent shootings at other nearby Asian businesses.
No arrests have yet been made in connection to those other shootings.
According to the affidavit, Smith, the suspect in the salon shooting, had "delusions" about Asian-Americans trying to harm him and was fired from his job for "verbally attacking" his boss, his girlfriend told investigators.
Smith is accused in a shooting that injured three people of Korean descent at the Hair World Salon in the Koreatown neighborhood in northwest Dallas last week.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, three people were shot at the salon with a .22-caliber rifle. The shooter fired about 13 times at the victims, the affidavit said.
Per the arrest warrant affidavit, Smith was captured on surveillance video running back to his vehicle, a Honda Odyssey minivan, with an "assault-style rifle" after the shooting. Smith also matched the description provided by the victims in the shooting, police said.
Investigators traced the van to Smith after a witness provided police with a partial number for the van's paper tag. The number began with "47" and also included "98," according to the affidavit.
Investigators checked the numbers and found a minivan matching the suspect's vehicle that had the paper tag number 47981F8.
Terry Goree, a family friend of Smith's, told WFAA that he worked on Smith's van about a month ago.
"He needed me to fix the alternator in it," Goree said. "When they said it was a hate crime, I had no idea it could be Jeremy. I can't believe I worked on a van possibly used in a crime."
Police learned that the vehicle had frequently been seen at a home in the 1200 block of Whispering Trail in southern Dallas. Police later identified the home as belonging to Smith's girlfriend.
When officers checked the address, they found a Honda Odyssey minivan parked in the driveway. The minivan had a windshield sticker, roof racks, damage and faded paint that all matched the minivan seen in the surveillance video from the salon shooting, the affidavit said.
A 2013 black Lexus was parked next to the minivan, according to the affidavit. Police then said they checked records for the Lexus, and found that Smith was involved in a criminal mischief case against the Lexus.
On Monday, police went to a home in DeSoto with an arrest warrant for Smith, and officers took him into custody. He was taken to police headquarters for an interview and told police the red minivan was his, according to the affidavit.
Smith also told police that he was in the area of Royal Lane where the shooting happened, according to the affidavit. Smith said he was looking for a business that could replace a broken pane of glass from a garage door, the affidavit added.
According to the affidavit, Smith also told police that he owns two guns, a .380-caliber handgun and a .22-caliber rifle. When police searched his minivan, they said they found a .380-caliber handgun, a gun magazine with four rounds in it and a box of Winchester .380 ammunition with six founds in it.
Police also searched Smith's girlfriend's home on Whispering Trail but did not collect any evidence.
While interviewing Smith's girlfriend, detectives learned about his recent feelings toward Asian-Americans, the affidavit said.
His girlfriend told police that Smith had been in a car crash with an Asian man about two years ago. Since then, Smith "has had near panic attacks when he is around anyone of Asian descent," the affidavit said. According to police, Smith's girlfriend said he was also fired from his job at a beauty supply warehouse for "verbally attacking" his boss, who was Asian.
The delusions resulted, his girlfriend told police, in Smith getting admitted "to several mental health facilities."
"Anytime the suspect is around anyone of Asian descent, he begins having delusions that the Asian mob is after him or attempting to harm him," the affidavit said.
Goree added that Smith has struggled with mental health before.
"He would always say that sometime he heard and was seeing voices and whatnot in his head," Goree said.
Smith was being held in the Dallas County jail on Tuesday morning.