News item | 31-08-2022 | 16:48
A suspect has been arrested in the United States for last weekend’s shooting of the three Dutch commandos. The 26-year-old corporal of the 1st class Simmie Poetsema was seriously injured and died in the night of 28 to 29 August.
The remains and both injured colleagues of Simmie Poetsema will be brought to the Netherlands this week.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin previously expressed his condolences in a telephone conversation with Ollongren. He also promised her all help in the investigation into the circumstances of the shooting. The local police do that. In addition, three detectives from the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee traveled to Indianapolis to gather information themselves.
Minute of silence
At the home base of the commandos in Roosendaal, the green berets reflected extensively on the loss of their size. A minute of silence was also observed. A quiet area has also been set up. It has been used a lot in recent days.
Evacuation order in Kabul
Simmie is known by ‘his’ corps as someone who mainly wanted to help others. For example, he did his unit great service when he was sent to Kabul, Afghan, for the evacuation order last year. While the chaos around the airport was mounting, it was Simmie, among others, who inventively created a new access road to the airport. This enabled the commandos to evacuate hundreds of Dutch citizens and Afghans.