May 17 (UPI) -- Authorities in Dallas said on Tuesday that they have arrested a suspect in a shooting at a hair salon in the city's Koreatown area last week that they believe was a hate crime.
Three women were shot at the Hair World Salon last Wednesday by someone who was dressed in black and fled in a red van.
Early Tuesday, Dallas police said that they have tracked down the person they believe was the shooter.
The salon is located in Dallas' Asian Trade District, which is also known as Koreatown. All three victims were of Korean heritage and all three survived.
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The U.S. Attorney's Office in North Texas and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division are investigating the shooting as a hate crime.
"The suspect is being interviewed and processed," Dallas police said in a tweet.
Officials said that more details about the suspect and the case will be announced later on Tuesday.
Investigators are trying to determine whether the salon attack is related to two other shootings in the area that targeted Asian businesses -- one that occurred only the day before and one in early April.
In nearby Carrollton, police said they have have increased patrols at Asian shopping centers and churches.
Asian nationals and Asian Americans have seen increased attacks in the United States over the past two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Officials say that some are being targeted as a direct result of the outbreak, which originated in China. When he was in office, former President Donald Trump repeatedly called it the "China virus."
The shooting in Dallas is one of several that have occurred in the United States over the past week. Ten people were killed in a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., on Saturday and one person died after an attack at a church in Southern California. Several people were killed last year at three different Asian spas in the Atlanta area.
