The victim of a gun attack in Amsterdam city centre on Tuesday evening has been named by Dutch media as crime journalist Peter R. de Vries.

Police confirmed the shooting happened on the Lange Leidsedwarsstraat, which runs parallel to Prinsengracht, at 7.45pm, but did not name the victim.

The Parool newspaper and shock blog GeenStijl both said within half an hour that the victim was 64-year-old De Vries, who made his name in the early 1980s writing about Amsterdam’s underworld and the kidnapping of Freddy Heineken.

De Vries later fell out with crime boss Willem Holleeder after he collaborated on a film adaptation of the kidnapping.

Op de Lange Leidsedwarsstraat is zojuist een man neergeschoten. Meerdere hulpdiensten zijn opgeroepen en de politie is nog op zoek naar de verdachte(n). Verdere informatie volgt. Heeft u iets gezien of informatie? Bel 112.

— Politie Eenheid Amsterdam (@Politie_Adam) July 6, 2021

The shooting happened minutes after the journalist had left RTL’s studios, where he appeared on TV gossip show RTL Boulevard.

Het Parool said De Vries was seriously injured in the shooting and had been taken to hospital. GeenStijl reported he had been shot in the head.

Police described the suspected gunman as a man with light build and light-coloured skin, wearing a dark green jacket and black cap. They warned anyone who sees the man not to approach him and call 0800 0811.