It may be the most tragic Valentine’s Day surprise gone wrong. Olympian track star Oscar Pistorius has been charged with murder after he allegedly shot his girlfriend in the head and arm early this morning at his home. She died on the scene.
Details are still developing in the case -- some sources say the victim, model Reeva Steenkamp, arrived unannounced in the wee hours to celebrate Valentine's Day. Pistorius has had problems with burglaries before, police say, so he may have fired to protect himself and his house. Others claim he’s had issues with domestic violence in the past and this may be a very criminal boiling over of tempers.
Police are still piecing parts of the story together and the media (including me) is nibbling on every find as the details unfold. Even Pistorius’ father seems unsure what to make of the whole tragedy, except to say his son is the only one with all of the facts but that “he’s sad at the moment.”
The South African superstar became the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics when he ran track events last summer and, in the process, became a symbol of heroism, determination, and sportsmanship. He went on to win gold medals in the 4 x 100 meter relay and 400-meter individual events at the 2012 Paralympic Games a month later.
Now the 26-year-old athlete, who is known as the “Blade Runner” and is a huge star internationally and in his home country, is on the wrong side of headlines. Police are expected to oppose bail. An initial hearing was postponed to give forensic investigators time to do their work, according to the Associated Press. In the meantime, Pistorius remains in custody and is said to be cooperating with police.
No matter what really happened—and I’m sure the real sequence of events will come out soon enough—the story is beyond unfortunate. If he shot her by accident, it would be the saddest of mistaken identity cases. If he shot her on purpose, it would be another instance of unchecked domestic violence brimming over into murder. Either way, my prayers go out to the victim’s family and to all of the fans hoping that their venerated hero isn’t a cold-blooded killer.
What do you make of the case?
Image via Elvar Freyr/Flickr
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Comments 8
Oh my word! Words fail me.
I really hope he didn't do it intentionally. Either way, wow. Horrible story.
He did it. Really tired of preening athletes that can't handle their emotions or understand the word 'No.' And yes, the police were called there before for DV.
Really? A break in? An 'accident'??
South Africa has a lot of problems with home invasions and most home owners have weapons of some sort. According to other news reports this guy regularly kept in his " bedroom lay one cricket bat and one baseball bat behind the door, a revolver by his bed and a machine gun by the window." and he lived in a province where there were "More than 7,000 home invasion robberies in Gauteng Province alone in 2011".
Until Americans have lived in a nation where there is an even larger divide between the poor and the middle or upper class than exists in America today, until you have lived where you have to have armed (machine guns) guards walking your neighborhood streets day and night so you are a bit safer, where your entire neighborhood is surrounded by a ten foot wall and access is via gated, guarded entrances then you cannot really judge how this man lived. Even here people shoot loved ones by accident thinking they are breaking in..... a neighbor last week shot at his son who decided to "surprise" him by coming home at 4am for a visit and sneaking into the house.
As for the rumored "incidents of a domestic nature" well, my neighbors argue loudly and have had the police called by the busybody behind them several times but there has never been any violence or charges. There is a difference between "domestic incident" and "domestic violence" so there needs to be much more information than has been released before people jump to conclusions just becaue the guy is an athlete they are obviously jealous of.