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Witnesses at the scene gave the police a quick view of a possible getaway car. This car was stopped on the A4, according to Paauw. Two suspects have been arrested. The possible shooter is among them, Paauw said.
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A third suspect has been arrested at “a location in Amsterdam”, according to the chief of police. That would have been in Amsterdam-East. According to Paauw, the car that was stopped on the A4 is the focus of the police. Paauw did not want to say whether a weapon was found in that vehicle.
shooting
De Vries had just left the RTL Boulevard studio near Leidseplein, where he was on the broadcast from 6.30 pm. When he was about to walk to his car, just after 7:30, he was shot in the head at close range, according to eyewitnesses.
Bystanders approached De Vries, who lay motionless on his back in the street. They held his hand while emergency services were called. According to police commissioner Frank Paauw, he was shot at close range by a gunman.
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The 64-year-old journalist was taken to hospital with serious injuries. Mayor Femke Halsema announced during the press conference of the Amsterdam triangle that De Vries is fighting for his life in the hospital. She spoke of a “brutal, cowardly” crime.
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A description of the suspected shooter was distributed via Burgernet around 7.40 pm. It would be a man, with a small, slender build. He was wearing a dark green coat with camouflage patches and a black cap. If you see this man, it is better not to approach him yourself, but it is better to call 112, according to the Burgernet message.
The police also make an urgent appeal not to further spread the “very violent” images circulating on social media in which the crime reporter can be seen.
Surroundings cordoned off
The wide area around the Lange Leidsedwarsstraat is still cordoned off. Research is underway. Witnesses saw and heard how the crime reporter was shot in the street.
After shooting Peter R. de Vries on the Lange Leidsedwarsstraat, the gunman fled running via Spiegelgracht and Prinsengracht. Eyewitnesses explain this to the ANP.
A female eyewitness to the shooting says the man was wearing a tracksuit with military camouflage print, a cap and a black face mask. “While I saw the victim lying motionless in the street and realizing what had happened, I saw the gunman run away, across the bridge from Spiegelgracht into Prinsengracht,” she says.
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Another eyewitness, who was sitting on the terrace, saw the suspect run further to the intersection with Vijzelstraat. “We had all heard those bangs and then he comes running here. It wasn’t actually a run. It wasn’t jogging. It was ‘bumping’, as if he was going to sprint at any moment. You just noticed that he didn’t want to draw too much attention, but he did.”
The man describes the shooter as “someone 1.70 meters tall. He was wearing a tracksuit with brown and black colors, a military print.” That made him so striking, continues the eyewitness. “I pointed out to the police who arrived that he fled in that direction,” the witness points to the intersection with Vijzelstraat. “I no longer looked at where he eventually went, I only heard later that someone had been shot and even later that it was Peter R. de Vries.”
Several witnesses also mention a silver-grey Renault Kadjar that kept driving around and therefore showed remarkable driving behaviour. They are not sure if that was the possible getaway car. They saw the shooter running after it, but did not see him get in.
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Lunch Update
Daily during lunch an update of the most important news.
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