![Crime journalist Peter R de Vries was shot and wounded in the Amsterdam city centre. Two suspects are in custody [Marcel van Hoorn/EPA]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1000-6.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
AMSTERDAM, July 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Celebrity Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, known for his work in exposing the criminal underworld, is fighting for his life after being shot on an Amsterdam street, officials said.
Three suspects were detained, including the possible shooter, police said. They declined to provide any details.
“He was seriously wounded and is fighting for his life,” Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said in a televised news conference on Tuesday. “He is a national hero to us all. A rare, courageous journalist who tirelessly sought justice.”
Police cordoned off the area of the shooting near the downtown Leidseplein square. They are collecting video footage, witness statements and forensic evidence.
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.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the attack “shocking and incomprehensible. It was an attack on a courageous journalist and also an attack on the free press that is so critical to our democracy.”
“We are praying that he will survive,” he said.
Dutch broadcaster RTL said De Vries had just left its studio in downtown Amsterdam when one of five shots hit him in the head. — NNN-AGENCIES
