Trailblazing South African Runner Charged With Murdering Girlfriend

Oscar Pistorius, a double-amputee track star from South Africa who was one of the heroes of the 2012 London Olympics, was charged Thursday with murder in the shooting death of a woman believed to be his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, at his home outside of Pretoria.

Pistorius made history last summer as the first double-amputee track athlete to compete in the Olympics and is nicknamed the Blade Runner because he runs using custom prosthetic blades. According to local media, the star told police that he mistook the victim for an intruder. But a police spokeswoman, Brig. Denise Beukes, said that police had been called to the residence before because of complaints of a "domestic nature." A rather tragic development in Pistorius' triumphant life story, no?

Read more at the New York Times.

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