How an Indianapolis street fight turned into an international incident

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An arrest has been made and Dutch detectives have been sent to Indianapolis after three Royal Netherlands Army soldiers were shot, one fatally, after a downtown street fight.

Court documents acquired by News 8 shed some light on what led up to the fatal shooting of Dutch commando Simmie Poetsema. Poetsema was with a group of fellow commandos who had traveled to Indianapolis for a night off while in Indiana for training at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, located southeast of Indianapolis and near North Vernon.

A 22-year-old Indianapolis man, Shamar Duncan, has been arrested for Poetsema’s murder. Two other Dutch soldiers injured in the shooting are expected to survive but are still hospitalized. News 8 is not naming them at the request of the Dutch army to protect their identities.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department responded to the 100 block of South Meridian Street, just south of Monument Circle, just before 4 a.m. on Saturday morning. Officers arrived to find broken glass, nine shell casings, three injured Dutch soldiers and a trail of blood.

Poetsema, 26, had been shot in the head one time, fracturing his skull and causing severe brain damage. Poetsema died early Monday morning. Poetsema’s body, along with his colleagues, will return to the Netherlands this week.

Documents detailing what happened that night reveal a story familiar to Indianapolis police but now making international headlines: a conflict that escalated and turned into a violent crime involving a gun.

What the documents don’t explicitly state is what led up to the altercation. What we know is two groups crossed paths, words were exchanged and a fight broke out. After the fight, one group retreated to a pickup truck and a drive-by shooting occurred in front of the Hampton Inn at Maryland and Meridian streets.

Individuals with each group blamed the other when speaking to investigators. However, two witnesses uninvolved with the fight described Duncan’s group as the aggressor.

Witnesses, license plate reading cameras help track down suspect vehicle

Police received word that a witness had video leading up to the shooting and an officer went to find the witness to review the video.

The officer ended up speaking to two men.

One of them showed the video, which officers say showed the suspect vehicle in detail along with three men.

The other witness told police he had seen the group earlier in the night. In his telling, the group consisted of four men.

“He said he observed four black males trying to fight a Hispanic group about an hour before the video incident,” court documents state.

A different witness said he watched the altercation from across the street, also describing Duncan’s group as the instigators.

Between statements from witnesses, witness video and city cameras, officers were able to use the Flock camera system, a license plate reader camera system, to find the suspect vehicle license plate number and registered owner. According to court documents, the truck had a toolbox in it and had lights attached, like a construction vehicle.

Conflicting stories told to police by groups

A probable cause affidavit for the arrest of Duncan states that Duncan was with two other men. Witnesses state the group of Dutch soldiers consisted of somewhere between nine and 14 individuals. Both groups stated that one of the Dutch soldiers knocked out a member of the group.

According to court documents, one of the soldiers told investigators “they had left a club in downtown Indianapolis. They were headed back to the hotel for the night. On their way back to the hotel some guys bumped into their group and a disturbance broke out.”

Another Dutch soldier who spoke to investigators said the other group “were just looking for a fight and he tried to diffuse the situation.” He also said others in the group and Poetsema tried to diffuse the situation.

Meanwhile, detectives worked to track down the truck seen in videos. When they located it, it was missing the toolbox and lights. The detective doing surveillance on the vehicle began following it and stopped it after backup arrived. Police say this man is the registered owner of the vehicle and was taken into the homicide office for questioning.

“He said someone brushed up against one of the other people he was with and some pushing and shoving started. He said he was unable to describe the person when asked because he was drunk. He then said there were like 14 people trying to jump them,” court documents state.

He identified Duncan as the shooter.

“He said that he yelled at Shamar because he was mad that he shot. He said Shamar said, ‘I just spazzed.’”

Police then interviewed a second person believed to be in Duncan’s group.

Investigators said he admitted that a fight occurred but denied that anyone in the truck fired shots.

Duncan’s girlfriend also spoke with police, describing a conversation with Duncan where he said his group was jumped by the Dutch soldiers.

“She stated that Shamar came over and picked her up Sunday,” court documents state. “Shamar told her that some female said something to them, and the group of soldiers began jumping them. She said Shamar stated they started talking s*** about the girl and the group of guys got involved. Shamar told her that he saw a gun and he was worried about the people he was with. He said that he went to the truck to get his gun. He said he saw one of the guys reaching towards his waist, so he defended himself.”

‘WMA21’ shell casings found, Duncan speaks to detectives

After locating the pickup truck, investigators executed a search warrant on the vehicle.

Inside a pair of jeans, officers found two live 9 mm rounds. Another was found on the floor between the center console and the front passenger seat. All of them had “WMA21” on the headstamp.

The six shell casings found at the crime scene were also marked “WMA21” on the headstamp.

When officers located Duncan on the city’s far east side near 38th Street and Mitthoefer Road, they believed he was trying to hide his face under a cinched-down hooded sweatshirt and a medical face mask.

In speaking to detectives, Duncan did not admit to the shooting.

Here is what detectives wrote regarding Duncan’s interview in the probable cause affidavit:

I asked Shamar to tell me what happened Saturday morning. I asked him if he knew what I was talking about and he said, yeah. He said he came downtown with two other people. He said they were intoxicated, and they tried to walk to a club, but it was closed. He said they go to walk back to their car, and they get into an altercation with some dude, the one being talked about on the news. He said some lady said something crazy to them and it made them stop. He told the people he was with that it’s not worth it “let’s go.” He said as they walked away the group of males started to follow them. They stopped and asked the males if they were following them and that’s when the fight started. He said the fight lasted 3-5 minutes. He stated he was in the street and one of the guys was trying to pick him up. He said he saw one of the people he was with hit his head and said the group of guys was stomping on T.D.’s head. He then saw a couple of guys running toward them from the hotel. Shamar said that’s when everyone saw a gun and started scattering. He said they went back to their truck, but it took them a minute because T.D. was still dazed on the ground. Detective Winter asked him what happened next, and he declined to give a further statement.

IMPD announced Duncan’s arrest on Tuesday night. His mugshot has not yet been released.

“The suspect’s mugshot is not releasable at this time due to investigative steps that need to occur prior to it being released,” IMPD said.”

World’s attention set on Indianapolis

The case has cast an unfavorable shadow on Indiana’s capitol city.

“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. “We have read things in the media, we have heard what the mayor said but we feel it’s very important to have a real thorough investigation. So we’re waiting for that until we comment on what actually happened.”

I-Team’s Richard Essex spoke with Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett on Monday, who defended the safety of the city.

“The truth is we have more police officers per capita downtown Indianapolis than any other neighborhood in the city. There is a lot more going on downtown than neighborhoods in the city, but we are struggling mightily to make our streets and neighborhoods as safe as we can make them,” said Hogsett.