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Journalist Peter R de Vries was reportedly shot in the head by an unidentified gunman, according to Het Parool newspaper.
A man believed to be Dutch crime reporter Peter R de Vries was shot and seriously wounded on a street in Amsterdam, newspaper Het Parool reported on Tuesday, adding he was taken to hospital.
Police said in a statement a man was shot in Amsterdam without confirming his identity.
“A man has just been shot on Lange Leidesdwarsstrat,” the police statement said, referring to a street near one of the city’s largest public squares. “Multiple emergency services have been summoned and police are searching for the suspect or suspects.”
They asked witnesses to call the police.
The Parool cited witnesses as saying de Vries had been shot in the head. The paper published an image of the scene with several people gathered around a person lying on the ground.
De Vries is a celebrity in the Netherlands, known for his investigative work following the 1983 kidnapping of beer magnate Freddy Heineken. He became known in the United States for his work investigating the disappearance of teenager Natalee Holloway in 2006.
De Vries has been subjected to threats from the criminal underworld in the past in connection with several cases.
In 2013 Willem Holledeer, the Heineken kidnapper, was convicted of making threats against De Vries. Holledeer is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in five murders.
In 2019 Ridouan Taghi, currently on trial for murder and drug trafficking, took the unusual step of making a public statement denying reports that he had threatened to have De Vries killed.
