One of the Netherlands’ best known crime reporters was shot Tuesday evening in a brazen attack in downtown Amsterdam and was fighting for his life in a hospital, the Dutch capital’s mayor said. Peter R. de Vries, who is widely lauded for fearless reporting on the Dutch underworld, was shot after making one of his regular appearances on a current affairs television show. It was an unusually brutal attack on a journalist in the Netherlands.
Peter R de Vries, 64, was shot minutes after leaving a TV studio, where he had appeared on a chat show. The attack happened just after 19:30 (17:30 GMT), as the journalist was walking away from the studio on the Lange Leidsedwarsstraat. Five shots were fired at close range and Mr de Vries was hit in the head, local media is reporting. Three suspects have been arrested, including the possible gunman. He was taken to a nearby hospital in “serious condition”, the police said Minutes earlier he had appeared on the TV programme RTL Boulevard to talk about the case of a hairdresser who was murdered in 2019. Mr de Vries is famed for his work on exposing on mobsters and drug kingpins, and has helped police solve a number of high-profile cases. The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, described Mr de Vries as “a national hero to us all” and as “a rare, courageous journalist who tirelessly sought justice”.
De Vries won an international Emmy Award in the current affairs category in 2008 for his work investigating the disappearance of teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005.
