Authorities in Indiana arrested a 22-year-old man on Tuesday in connection with a shooting that killed a Dutch soldier and wounded two others.
Shamar Duncan was apprehended by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on Tuesday and is being held pending a murder charge, according to a police statement. The department did not release any details about what led to the shooting of the Royal Netherlands Army members. The Dutch minister of defense expressed her concern over the violent incident on Tuesday during a meeting of European Union defense ministers in Prague.
DUTCH SOLDIER SHOT OUTSIDE INDIANAPOLIS HOTEL DIES FROM INJURIES
“We do many trainings of our servicemen in the United States, and we really don’t expect this to happen. So it’s very, very concerning for us,” Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren told the Associated Press.
Ollongren added that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reached out to her on Monday “to express his regrets and his condolences.”
The shooting occurred outside a downtown Indianapolis Hampton Inn early Saturday morning while the Dutch servicemen were on leave from training exercises being held at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in southern Indiana.
On Monday, one of the members of Netherlands’s Commando Troops Corps, considered the special forces of the Royal Netherlands Army, who was wounded in the shooting died from his injuries. The Marion County Coroner’s Office identified the deceased as 26-year-old Simmie Poetsema, according to police. The other two victims have injuries that are believed to be non-life-threatening, both police and the Dutch Ministry of Defense said.
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Authorities said after the shooting that they believed the off-duty soldiers were involved in a previous altercation with the gunman at a different location.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said Monday that the commandos had returned to the hotel after a “scuffle” at a bar and that the gunfire was the result of “a drive-by shooting,” according to the Associated Press. Police have not confirmed Hogsett’s account of the incident.
