Will Dallas officially designate Koreatown after long push? Advocates say that would help protect...

Joann Roh was surprised by the limited police presence around her Dallas restaurant the day after a shooting at a hair salon next door last week injured three women of Korean descent.

“I can’t help but wonder if it’s because we’re a Korean community,” Roh, who owns Sura Korean Bistro and knew the salon owners, told NBC Asian America.

Local advocates say a sense of safety and community could be bolstered by having the neighborhood officially designated as a Koreatown, a status and recognition from the city it currently does not have.

The area serves as a home to the second-largest Korean American community in the South, outside of Atlanta. Within the last decade in particular, locals have banded together to seek the designation. Its significance has been highlighted by the shooting.