The 26-year-old Dutch Commando Corps soldier who was shot dead on Saturday night as he went home with his friends from an Indianapolis bar has been identified for the first time since the death.
Simmie Poetsema bumped across his assailant on the pavement as he made his way back to the Hampton Inn hotel before being shot in the back of the head.
Poetsema was with two other soldiers at the time who were also undersized and hurt.
According to an arrest document, the 22-year-old man suspected of carrying out the deadly shooting informed a buddy who was with him that morning that he shot the troops because he “flipped out.”
Before the early-morning shooting on Saturday, the buddy told police that he, Shamar Duncan, and another guy left his pickup vehicle and ended up downtown, according to the police’s sealed affidavit to the Marion County prosecutor’s office, according to the Indianapolis Star.
The pickup truck driver allegedly told authorities that pushing and shoving broke out when someone from another group – most likely the Dutch troops who were in the U.S. for training – accidentally bumped into a member of his.
He said that one of his group members fell to the ground, and they immediately hurried back to their car.
According to the affidavit, the guy said he was driving when one of his pals claimed they had forgotten their phone at home. He then claimed to have stopped the truck. Shots were then heard.
The unnamed male allegedly informed police that “Shamar was firing” in the affidavit.
The guy said that Duncan was seated in the pickup’s rear seat. According to the affidavit, a different witness reportedly informed police that they thought the rounds were fired from the truck’s backseat.
According to the affidavit, the pickup’s driver shouted at Shamar because he was upset over shooting.
Shamar allegedly remarked, “I just s*****d.”
Duncan, 22, was detained on Tuesday and is being charged with murder in connection with the incident.
According to police, he remained incarcerated on Wednesday and would not be qualified for release until the prosecutor’s office investigates the incident.
Whether the two guys who were reportedly with Duncan that morning would be charged wasn’t immediately known on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s online court records didn’t include Duncan’s arrest, and it wasn’t known whether he had a lawyer who could comment on the matter in his stead.
Poetsema passed away from his wounds “surrounded by family and colleagues,” according to a statement released by the Dutch Defense Ministry on Monday.
According to the defence ministry, the two troops who were hurt in the incident have injuries that are not life-threatening.
According to the affidavit, Duncan was identified as the shooter using testimony from the surviving troops, witnesses, video taken by a bystander, and security footage.
The morning of the shooting, a witness who wishes to remain nameless said that Duncan and his two companions were “looking for trouble.” The witness observed them cross a street and push a guy among a crowd of people, who then ran away.
The witness said that Duncan’s gang then started fighting with the troops.
The troops were returning to their hotel after a bar when Duncan and his buddies ran into them, they said police. The men were in Indianapolis on a night off from training at a military base in southern Indiana.
While Poetsema and the other troops in the group attempted to settle the situation, a battle that lasted between 30 seconds and a few minutes, according to witnesses, ultimately broke out.
According to the affidavit, the witness who was on the other side of the street reported seeing “one of the individuals who were making difficulties” be knocked to the ground.
Then, according to the witness, one of the guys in Duncan’s group said, “I’m going to go grab a strap,” which is slang for a pistol.
The soldier’s group strolled to the front of their hotel, while Duncan’s party returned to their pickup, according to the eyewitness.
The vehicle raced toward the hotel’s front before doing a U-turn and turning on its flashers.
According to the witness, after hearing gunshots, he observed the pickup truck accelerate away.
The affidavit states that using surveillance footage and witness statements, authorities were able to identify Duncan and the two males who were with him.
A guy who subsequently acknowledged being with Duncan the morning of the shooting was taking items out of the pickup truck when detectives discovered it.
According to the affidavit, important identifying characteristics had been altered.
In the wake of the massacre, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren voiced alarm about gun violence in the US on Tuesday.
We train our service members extensively in the United States, therefore we really don’t anticipate this to occur. Therefore, it’s really worrying for us.
Ollongren made this statement in Prague at a gathering of EU military ministers.
As long as the inquiry is open, Ollongren refuses to comment on the incident.
Dutch military police and Indianapolis authorities, according to her, are in “excellent touch,” and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin phoned her on Monday “to offer his apologies and his sympathies,” she said.