Indy man gets 105 years for soldier’s murder, injuring 2

INDIANAPOLIS — A man from Indiana was handed a 105-year prison sentence for a deadly shooting incident in 2022 where a Dutch soldier was killed and two others were injured in downtown Indianapolis.

On Monday, a judge in Marion County determined that Shamar Duncan should receive 60 years for murder, 35 years for attempted murder, and an additional 10 years for aggravated battery. These sentences will be served one after the other.

Duncan was found guilty by a jury last month.

The victim, Simmie Poetsema, aged 26, and two other soldiers were engaged in training at a military camp in southern Indiana. While on a night off in Indianapolis, they were heading back to their hotel when an altercation began with Duncan and his companions, as detailed in court records.

Eyewitnesses reported to authorities that despite the soldiers’ efforts to calm the situation, a brief physical confrontation occurred before shots were fired from a moving pickup truck.

Poetsema was associated with the Dutch Commando Corps.

According to an arrest affidavit, Duncan admitted to a friend that he shot at the soldiers because he “just spazzed.”

During his sentencing, Duncan expressed remorse to the victims’ families and apologized to his own family for “letting them down.”