Oscar Pistorius, South African Olympic Runner, Charged With Girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp's Murder

Oscar Pistorius, the Olympian known as the “Blade Runner,” was charged with murdering his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home in South Africa on Thursday.

Steenkamp was shot a total of four times, and was dead at the scene inside of Pistorius’s home where a 9mm pistol was found, according to police reported CNN. After cooperating with police and requesting to be taken to court without delay, Pistorius was to undergo blood alcohol and forensic tests. He is not expected to receive an application for bail, according to The New York Times.

While apparently there have been “previous incidents” of a domestic nature at the Olympic gold medalist’s home, according to police spokeswoman Denise Beukes, the cause of this particular incident is still unknown. “It will be extremely obnoxious and rude to speculate,” the athlete’s father Henke Pistorius told the South African Broadcasting Corporation. “I don’t know the facts.”

Originally scheduled for Thursday afternoon, the hearing is now scheduled for Friday to allow more time for forensic investigators to collect all necessary and relevant data, said prosecution spokesman Medupe Simasiku.

Pistorius won two gold medals and a silver in last year’s Paralympic Games in London. He also became the first double amputee sprinter to compete in the able-bodied Olympics, running with the South African 4×400 relay team, and reaching the 400-meter semifinal. Steenkamp, a South African model who had studied to be a paralegal, had been featured in magazines such as FHM, and was set to appear in the next season of reality show Tropika Island of Treasure. She was 30. —Chelsea Regan