Dutch crime reporter Peter R. De Vries has died and his family have paid tribute
(Picture: ANP/AFP via Getty Images)Dutch crime reporter Peter R. De Vries has died aged 64 after being shot last week, local media reported.
The journalist had built his career investigating the criminal underworld, high-profile cases and examining more than 500 murder files.
As one of the best known crime reporters, he won an international Emmy Award in the current affairs category in 2008 for his work on the disappearance of US teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005.
Mr Vries was shot in Amsterdam when he left a TV studio last week after he made one of his regular appearances on a current affairs television show.
Now his family paid tribute to the famed reporter.
"Peter fought till the end but wasn't able to win this battle. He died surrounded by the people who loved him," his family said in a statement published by RTL, the network who employed De Vries as crimes reporter.
“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.”
In Parliament, Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra said he was “deeply shocked” by the shooting.
“We don’t know the circumstances, but whatever the circumstances this is unimaginable and terrible news,” Mr Hoekstra said.
