Who was the Dutch journalist that died? Meet Peter R. de Vries

The Netherlands did not breathe for nine long days. Peter R. de Vries, an investigative and criminal journalist, had just left the TV studio where he was a regular guest on a talk program on a July evening in the heart of Amsterdam.

He was shot five times while going to his car. The 64-year-old De Vries was shot in the head, according to witnesses and law enforcement officials. He spent nine days in the hospital with a critical state.

During his career, De Vries, a legend in Dutch journalism, reinvented crime reporting. In the 1980s, he broke numerous stories about the abduction of Freddy Heineken, a Dutch businessman and the brewery’s heir, which helped him gain national attention.

Who was the Dutch journalist that died? Meet Peter R. de Vries

Peter R. de Vries, a prominent Dutch journalist who boldly exposed the country’s violent underbelly and fought to reopen dormant cases, passed away at the age of 64 after being shot in an egregious assault last week, his family announced on Thursday. Unknown as to why De Vries was shot, the July 6 incident on a street in Amsterdam bore all the signs of the gangland hits that were happening more frequently in the Dutch underworld the journalist covered.