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Track star Oscar Pistorius charged with murder in model girlfriend’s shooting death: police

Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp attend an awards ceremony in 2012.

Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp attend an awards ceremony in 2012. (AP)

Oscar Pistorius, his head lowered and face covered, leaves the Boschkop police station in Pretoria for a blood test at a local hospital Thursday.

Oscar Pistorius, his head lowered and face covered, leaves the Boschkop police station in Pretoria for a blood test at a local hospital Thursday. (Chris Collingridge/ Splash News)

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Reeva Steenkamp studied law before becoming a swimsuit model.

Reeva Steenkamp studied law before becoming a swimsuit model. (Getty Images)

South African track icon Oscar Pistorius — who gained international fame by racing in the Olympics on prosthetic legs — was charged with murder after this morning’s shooting death of his gorgeous girlfriend, police said.

“FHM” cover model Reeva Steenkamp was shot four times inside Pistorius’ home in a gated community in the capital city of Pretoria, police said. The complex is protected by armed guards.

Pistorius, 26, will spend tonight in jail before appearing in court tomorrow, officials said.

“We all pray for guidance and strength for Oscar and the lady’s parents,” said the “Blade Runner’s” dad Henke Pistorius.

South Africans were shocked at the killing, involving their national hero and his stunning gal pal.

But while Pistorius captured the nation’s attention with his Olympic quest, police said there was a recent history of problems involving him. Police spokeswoman Brigadier Denise Beukes said the incidents included “allegations of a domestic nature.”

“He is doing well but very emotional,” Pistorius’ lawyer Kenny Oldwage told SABC TV.

Steenkamp’s publicist Sarit Tomlinson said her client and Pistorius seemed to have a strong relationship.

“It’s shocking, no one knows what’s happening,” Tomlinson said. “She was the kindest, sweetest human being, an angel on earth.”

Steenkamp’s uncle said he could only hope his niece is in a better place now.

“She loved people, she loved everybody,” Mike Steenkamp told reporters in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, tonight.

“It was such a devastating shock that her whole life, what she could achieve, never came to fulfilment. And I’ll just say she’s with the angels.”

Police spokeswoman Lt. Col. Katlego Mogale said officers received a call around 3 a.m. after the shooting.

A 9 mm pistol was recovered, cops said, and Pistorius is known to own guns.

In November 2011, he tweeted a picture of himself at a shooting range, bragging about his score: “Had a 96% headshot over 300m from 50shots! Bam!”

The target-shooting enthusiast once did an online ad for Nike that read: “I am a bullet in the chamber.” That ad has been pulled off Pistorius’ personal Web site.

“We’re not commenting on our sponsorship or relationship,” Nike spokeswoman Seruscka Naidoo told Agence France-Presse. “At this moment, it’s a matter that’s being investigated. [There is an] issue at hand here which is much bigger than a sponsorship.”

Cops revealed few details of the shooting, other than the people involved.

“The only two people on the premises were the resident and the deceased,” police spokeswoman Brigadier Denise Beukes said. “We can confirm Oscar is at the Boschkop police station.”

Beukes also said: “There is no other suspect involved.”

Hours later after undergoing questioning, Pistorius left a police station accompanied by officers. He looked down as photographers snapped pictures, the hood on his gray workout jacket pulled up, covering most of his face.

Mogale said when police arrived they found paramedics trying to revive a 30-year-old woman, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Pistorious and Steenkamp were first spotted together in public in November, a short time before she began mentioning in him on her Twitter page.

Steenkamp hinted at a Valentine’s Day surprise on Twitter the day before her death, writing” “What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow???”

Steenkamp, 30, had beauty and brains — she studied law before becoming a swimsuit model and a spokesmodel for Avon cosmetics. She also spoke out on Twitter against rape and abuse of women.

She also filmed episodes for the reality TV show “Tropika Island of Treasure.”

Show producers posted a statement online after news of Steenkamp’s death spread: “We are deeply saddened and extend our condolences to Reeva’s family and friends.”

Beukes said the murder suspect would undergo blood-alcohol and forensic tests.

Cops are opposing bail for Pistorius. Beukes said there had been previous incidents “of a domestic nature” at Pistorius’ home.

“Yes there are witnesses and there have also been interviews this morning,” Beukes told reporters outside Pistorius’ gated complex.

“We are talking about neighbors and people that heard things that happened earlier in the evening and when the shooting took place.”

Police officials said early reports that Steenkamp might have been mistaken for a burglar by Pistorius did not come from them.

There were no apparently signs of forced entry into Pistorius’ home, police said.

“It would be very premature and very irresponsible of me to say what actually has happened,” Beukes said. “There have been allegations. We are not sure.”

The track star, who races wearing carbon fiber prosthetic blades after he was born without a fibula in both legs, was the first double amputee to run in the Olympics. He reached the semifinals of the 400 meters in the 2012 London Games.

Known as the “Blade Runner,” Pistorius was one of the most heart-warming stories coming out of the London Olympics, running on his sleek, J-shaped blades. The six-time Paralympic gold medalist had vowed to make it back for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He was named to Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people.

Pistorius’ former coach, Andrea Giannini, said he hopes it was “just a tragic accident.” Giannini said he believed that Pistorius had been dating Steenkamp for “a few months.”

“No matter how bad the situation was, Oscar always stayed calm and positive,” Giannini said in Italy. “Whenever he was tired or nervous he was still extremely nice to people. I never saw him violent.”

Yet Pistorius has had some legal, off-the-track struggles in the past. In February 2009, he crashed a speed boat he was piloting on South Africa’s Vaal River.

Witnesses said he had been drinking before the crash and officers found alcoholic beverages in the wreckage, though they acknowledged at the time they hadn’t conducted a blood test on the athlete. Pistorius broke his nose, jaw and several ribs in the crash, as well as damaged his eye socket and required some 180 stitches to his face.

Pistorious was arrested on Sept. 12, 2009, for allegedly roughing up a 19-year-old woman at a party he hosted. The case was eventually dropped.

And just this past November, Pistorius got into a tussle with a local coal mining millionaire over a woman, according to South African media reports. The two men brought in the South African Police Service’s elite Hawks investigative unit, before they settled the matter.

Steenkamp and Pistorius were first seen publicly together in November at an awards ceremony in Johannesburg. Later, she began mentioning the athlete in public messages on Twitter.

South Africa has some of the world’s highest rates of violent crime and some homeowners carry weapons to defend themselves against intruders. Nearly 50 people are killed a day in the nation of 50 million people.

Only Colombia has a higher rate of shooting deaths than South Africa, according to United Nations data.

“The question is: Why does this story make the news? Yes, because they are both celebrities, but this is happening on every single day in South Africa,” said anti-firearms activist Adele Kirsten, a spokeswoman for Gun Free South Africa.

“We have thousands of people killed annually by gun violence in our country. So the anger is about that it is preventable.”

With Post Wire Services and additional reporting by David K. Li and Bob Fredericks