DALLAS — Omar Omar believes that the American dream is primarily about not giving up. The 40-year-old Iraq native admits he thought about it in the days and years after a fatal shooting at his business, Omar’s Wheels and Tires.

“Sometimes it crosses my mind, I want to get out of this corner. I want to go do something else in life,” Omar said. “I don’t want to be in this business anymore.”

Federal investigators said Anthony Torres, 38, was drawn to the business in December 2015 because of its Muslim heritage. But they said it was not to support Buckner Blvd. establishment in the Pleasant Grove community of Dallas.

“I was here. I was part of it. Everything happened from A to Z,” Omar said.

The business owner said before Dec. 24, Torres came to the business asking people if they were Muslim. In earlier reports by CBS News Texas, Dallas police told Torres not to return to the property. But he did.

“And he came up to me and said, ‘Hey, where’s Omar?’ I say, ‘Omar’s not here,’ Omar said.

Omar said he denied Torres’ identity that day because his brother alerted him. When Torres arrived in the parking lot, Omar recalled the chaos that followed.

“For me, coming from another country — coming to America and seeing this happen, it shocked me,” Omar said.

Client Enrique Garcia-Mendoza was killed. Investigators said Torres tried to shoot four other people at the scene. Omar said he shot the gunman.

“If they come in my place, you shoot me, I’ll shoot you back, you know,” Omar said. “Try to save the people in my parking lot and me. And I’m standing up here.”

Torres was arrested on multiple charges, including murder. The murder was also investigated as a hate crime.

PJ O’Brien, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Dallas, would consider that case a hate crime that authorities were able to document.

“The data we have, which is the most recent and complete, brings us to the 2020-2021 time frame,” O’Brien said. “We saw about an 11 percent increase in hate crimes from about 8,100 to about 9,100.”

According to statistics released by the FBI, reported hate crime incidents nationally increased by 11.6 percent. The Bureau’s data shows that 64.5 percent of victims were targeted because of race, ethnicity, or ancestry bias. The data also showed that 15.9% became the focus of hate because of sexual orientation bias.

O’Brien runs the massive North Texas operation, which stretches from the Louisiana state line to New Mexico. He brings nearly 20 years of experience to the Joint Terrorism Task Force — the Dallas FBI experiences, he said, what everyone else does: unreported hate.

“Unfortunately, it’s difficult because a lot of times people who are victimized come from underrepresented groups that may have a lack of trust in law enforcement and for a reason,” he said. “They may have come from countries where law enforcement wasn’t necessarily handled the way it is here in the United States.”

So the FBI uses social media as part of its annual campaign to bring victims out of the shadows. Videos posted on social media in English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Urdu encourage victims to come forward. Agents want to hear about illegal encounters where bias involves religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability.

O’Brien even has an argument he would make for doubters to come forward. He said this is not a government trap to capture these migrants.

“I would say you know, it matters and it matters to us. And we recognize that it is our obligation to help seek justice for you,” O’Brien said. “And while it may be difficult and while we may have had poor interactions with law enforcement in the past, our goal is to truly represent you. And the only way we can combat this problem is if we learn about the problem and hear about it. .”

Victims can contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov.

Meanwhile, Omar said he has contributed to the Dallas community as a Muslim. He said who he worships or not is between him and God.