Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp
Yesterday the world was shocked to hear that Reeva Steenkamp was shot and killed. Why were they shocked? Because of who is being accused of doing it – the Olympic and Paralympic hero, Oscar “Blade Runner” Pistorius.
You may remember the story of Pistorius from the London Olympic Games in 2012. He’s the runner from South Africa that had to go to court to prove that his “bionic” legs don’t give him an advantage over other runners and that he should be allowed to compete in the Olympics. He won the case and was able to compete in the 2012 Olympics in London and made it to a semi-final and a final with his carbon-fiber prosthetic legs becoming the first double-amputee to ever do so in Olympic history.
This morning, around 4:30 Eastern Time, Pistorious was in a South African court being charged with “premeditated murder.” According to all reports, Oscar and Reeva were the only people in the house when the shooting occured and Reeva was shot four times.
Initial reports cited a neighbor saying that Oscar mistook her for an intruder, but that hasn’t been confirmed. South Africa has an extremely high crime rate so the initial reports of Reeva being mistook for a intruder had some believability to it but based on the charge of predmeditated murder, it appears the police and prosecutors aren’t buying it because they are also saying that there have been other incidents at the residence including early that night. Based on the information that has been released, it’s looking more and more like Oscar did it.
Blade Runner
Pistorius was an inspiration to all during the Olympics – I found myself rooting for him during his meets. Oscar was born without a fibula in both legs and has become one of the greatest runners in the world, with or without real legs.
This story just goes to show you that you never know what goes on behind closed doors. From all reports, Oscar and Reeva were fine and seemed happy so it’s unclear why something like this happened.
When something like this occurs, my mind immediately goes back to cases like OJ Simpson and Rae Carruth – famous athletes with the world at their fingertips who simply lost control of everything. In OJ’s case he was charged with murdering his ex-wife and in Carruth’s case he was found guilty of having his pregnant girlfriend killed. Was there something wrong or going on between Oscar and Reeva that no one knew about or did he simply just snap (like when pro wrestler Chris Benoit snapped and killed his wife and son)? Hopefully the answers will come out during the trial.
This story is just beginning and hopefully over time the truth will come out and we will get answers to the questions of why did this happen. For Reeva’s family hopefully justice is served and they can find some peace. For Oscar’s family they may have to live with the truth that Oscar did it; I just hope there is an explanation of why.
No matter who did it or why, the cold hard truth is that a beautiful woman was killed in her own home and a hero to people all over the world may have been the one that did it.
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