One of the Netherlands' best-known crime reporters has died after being repeatedly shot in what is believed to be a gangland hit.
Peter R. de Vries, known for his work in exposing the Dutch underworld, was shot in downtown Amsterdam around 7.30pm last week while walking to his car following one of his regular appearances on a current affairs television show.
The 64-year-old was shot five or six times including once in the head and once in the chest, and was rushed to hospital by air ambulance.
His death was announced on Thursday and two suspects have been detained over the shooting.
RTL, the Dutch network De Vries regularly worked for, cited the family statement as saying: 'Peter fought to the end, but was unable to win the battle.'
The statement says he died surrounded by loved ones.
'Peter has lived by his conviction: "On bended knee is no way to be free." We are unbelievably proud of him and at the same time inconsolable.'
The shooting comes amid the Mafia-style 'maxi-trial' of alleged boss Ridouan Taghi - a Moroccan-Dutch national known as the Netherlands' most-wanted man until his arrest in Dubai in 2019 - and sixteen co-defendants.
De Vries was heavily involved in the case, and last year agreed to act as 'confidential counselor' to the state's star witness - a man known only as Nabil B.
Peter R. de Vries, one of the Netherlands' best-known crime reporters, was shot in the chest and head in Amsterdam
The shooting happened in broad daylight on a street in central Amsterdam in front of dozens of witnesses, who held de Vries' hand until an ambulance arrived (pictured)
He stepped into the role despite the high-profile murder of several figures close to Nabil, including brother Reduan who was shot to death in Amsterdam in 2018, and lawyer Derk Wiersum who was killed in similar fashion in 2019.
Born in Morocco in 1977, Taghi emigrated to the Netherlands in 1980 with his parents who settled in Vianen.
He became involved in a life of crime as a teenager and was involved with a gang known as the Bad Boys who operated in the Nieuwegein region.
Between 1992 and 1998, he racked up a series of convictions for burglary and possession of weapons.
He is then alleged to have got involved in the drug trade and become an expert in 'disposing' of people who others wanted out of the way.
Between 2014 and 2019, Taghi is alleged to have been involved in at least 10 killings, including the deaths of Reduan B - the brother of police informant Nabil B - and Derk Wiersum, Nabil's lawyer.
Dubbed the Angel of Death, prosecutors say Taghi also ran a drug trafficking empire that was ferrying cocaine into the Netherlands.
A warrant for his arrest was issued in 2018 and he became known as the Netherlands' most-wanted man when a £100,000 bounty was offered for information on his whereabouts - the largest ever offered by Dutch police.
In December 2019 he was found living in Dubai, where he had fled the previous year using a fake ID.
Taghi was arrested in a joint operation by police in the Netherlands, Morocco and the UAE, and extradited back to Holland.
He is now being held in maximum-security jail in Vught where he is being prosecuted for murder and drug trafficking as part of a Mafia-style 'maxi-trial' alongside 16 co-defendants.
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Taghi is currently being held in maximum-security jail in the city of Vught, suspected of leading a cocaine-smuggling gang called the 'Angels of Death' and of being involved in a string of murders.
De Vries had agreed to be Nabil's counselor in spring 2020 when two new lawyers - Peter Schouten and Onno de Jong - also joined the case, De Telegraaf reports.
But, unlike the lawyers, de Vries had refused to accept any offers of additional security to protect himself.
That is despite the fact that - months before he joined the case - de Vries had publicly spoken of suspicions that Taghi had placed him on a 'hit list'.
Taghi subsequently wrote to de Vries assuring him that he had 'nothing to fear'.
Speaking about the shooting, a police spokesman said that 'Peter R. de Vries was shot down in Lange Leidsedwarsstraat,' referring to a street near one of the city's largest public squares.
The shooting happened in broad daylight in front of dozens of witnesses, who said a slender, light-skinned man wearing a military-print tracksuit, black facemask and cap had walked up to him and opened fire.
Five or six shots were fired, hitting de Vries in the chest and head, before the gun fled on foot through two nearby streets.
Passersby rushed to help de Vries, calling medics and holding his hand until they arrived and took him to hospital.
Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra said in Parliament he was 'deeply shocked' by the attack.
'We don't know the circumstances, but whatever the circumstances this is unimaginable and terrible news,' Hoekstra said.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte told a press conference in The Hague the attack was 'shocking and inconceivable'.
'It's an attack on a courageous journalist and by extension an attack on the freedom of the press, which is so essential for our democracy and rule of law,' he said.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima wrote in a statement: 'The report that journalist Peter R. De Vries was shot has shocked us deeply.
'He and all those dear to him are in our thoughts.
The shooting comes amid the prosecution of Ridouan Taghi (pictured), an alleged Mafia boss, with de Vries acting as a 'confidential counsellor' to star state witness Nabil B
Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands speak about the shooting of de Vries while attending a press conference in Germany
They said journalists must be able to do their work without threat.
'We feel connected to everyone who is committed to the free press in our constitutional state.'
'This is what you've been hoping all along that doesn't happen,' said Thomas Bruning, general secretary of the Dutch Association of Journalists.
'Of course it remains to be seen which activities of De Vries this is related to, but the attack took place in front of RTL Boulevard.
'This hits journalism right in the face. Let's hope and pray for his health.'
De Vries was known both for his fearless reporting on the Netherlands' present-day criminal underworld, and his work trying to close cold cases.
He won an International Emmy Award in 2008 for a television show he made about the disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway who vanished while she was on holiday in the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005.
De Vries helped heap suspicion on Dutchman Joran van der Sloot, who had been identified but not arrested by police, by pointing out that he had lied several times during questioning.
De Vries eventually captured Sloot saying on camera that he had dumped Holloway's body in the ocean, though he was not jailed for the killing because he was already serving a 28-year term in Peru for
