The Dutch soldier killed in a shooting in downtown Indianapolis Saturday was visiting the city on a day off from training at a facility in southeast Indiana, according to a spokesperson for the Royal Netherlands Army.
Simmie Poetsema, 26, was killed in the shooting. Two other Dutch soldiers were injured and are in stable condition, according to the Netherlands Department of Defense.
"Everybody is shocked that this happened,” said Major Mark van de Beek, a spokesperson for the Royal Netherlands Army. “We are losing a great colleague and I'm sure everyone at the unit is going to miss him very much. We lost a really good colleague."
The shooting occurred around 3:30 a.m. outside a hotel in the center of Indianapolis in the 100 block of South Meridian Street. The soldiers were staying at the hotel while in the city.
Police believe a disturbance between the three military members and another person or people led to the shooting, according the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
Poetsema died with his family and colleagues present, van de Beek said.
"They were brought in as soon as we learned there were three colleagues wounded,” van de Beek said. “We flew over the relatives to Indiana for them to be with their loved ones. Thankfully they got to go over there to be with him.”
IMPD Lt. Shane Foley said the police department worked with several agencies to assist in bringing family members of the Dutch soldiers to Indiana. The department did not have any updates on the case as of Monday morning, he said.
The man’s family asked for privacy and that no photo of him be released by the Royal Netherlands Army, van de Beek said. It is unclear if the unit will continue to train in Indiana or if they will return to the Netherlands, he said.
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The soldiers are members of the Korps Commandotroepen, or Commando Corps, which is a special defense unit of the Royal Netherlands Army, according to the country’s defense department. They were training at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Butlerville, van de Beek said.
The unit was training in urban warfare and traveled to Indiana because Muscatatuck Urban Training Center allows for training on a much larger scale than available in the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe, van de Beek said.
The training center is “globally unique” with a city built on a 1,000-acre urban and rural landscape and is the U.S. Department of Defense’s largest urban training facility, according to the center’s website.
When speaking with reporters Monday morning, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett stated the soldiers may have been shot in a drive-by shooting that occurred after a scuffle at a bar. As of Monday morning, a portion of hotel's glass doors were repaired with pieces of wood, tape and plastic.
“I don’t know the details of how it happened and what caused it to happen,” Hogsett said. “The tragedy is that it happened. The tragedy is people got into a dispute and they ultimately resolved that dispute by pulling out a gun and shooting. That’s precisely what we are trying to focus on in our crime reduction efforts.”
Hogsett also pointed to data from the police department showing a reduction in homicides so far this year compared to last.
“You are probably getting tired of me saying it but having a 17 percent reduction year over year from last year is not insignificant and that’s what I want the people of Indianapolis to know,” Hogsett said. “We are making progress.”
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Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears also commented on violence that occurred in Indianapolis over the weekend.
“We continue to see lasting damage caused by the inability to resolve disputes before resorting to gun violence,” Mears said. “We cannot not tolerate this behavior and the use of firearms or weapons as a resolution to conflict.”
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to contact Detective Michael Wright at the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or email him at Michael.Wright@indy.gov. Alternatively, those with information can call Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 to remain anonymous.
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Dutch soldiers shot in Indianapolis visiting from training facility
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