Double Amputee Olympic Runner Oscar Pistorius Charged With Murdering Girlfriend

Less than a year after inspiring the world by competing in the four hundred meters at the Olympics, double amputee Oscar Pistorius has been jailed for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Details on what exactly happened are still a little fuzzy, but the model was found in Pistorius’ house early this morning with four gunshot wounds, just hours after she posted an optimistic message about Valentine’s Day on her Twitter.

Response in South Africa, where Pistorius was extremely famous for his ability to run with specially designed prosthetic legs, has largely been a sense of shock, but for local police, there apparently were some warning signs. According to ESPN, authorities have declined to get into specifics, but they apparently dealt with several domestic problems at the residence within the past few months. There are also records of the sprinter allegedly drinking and crashing his boat back in 2009 and getting into an altercation with another man over a woman last year.

Pistorius has spoken publically in the past about his love for firearms and his trips to the shooting range. He’s even told stories about searching his home with a loaded weapon after hearing the burglar alarm go off. Those closest to the runner, including his former coach Andrea Giannini have expressed hope the shooting was simply a “tragic accident”, but given the four gunshots, that may not be the case.

Pop Blend’s sincerest thoughts go out to Steenkamp’s entire family at this time. The model was twice voted as one of the 100 most beautiful women in the world by FHM, but by all accounts, the passionate advocate for women’s rights was even more beautiful on the inside.

We’ll keep you updated as this tragedy unfolds.

Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.