Police captain Sarah Mcira said a woman, who died at the scene, was shot in the arm and head at around 4am today at Pistorius' home in the high security, gated Silver Lakes complex, in Pretoria.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear.

It was originally reported that the 26-year-old athlete shot the woman, 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp, a model from Port Elizabeth who had appeared in FHM and a law graduate, accidentally after mistaking her for a burglar.

She was allegedly shot as she woke Pistorius, trying to surprise him on Valentine's Day, it was claimed.


But police said the shooting was being treated as a murder investigation and that they were "very surprised" by the reports, which they said did not come from them.

Brigadier Denise Beukes confirmed the pair were the only ones present in the house at the time of the shooting, and that there had been previous incidents at the premises including "allegations of a domestic nature".

"There are witnesses and they have been interviewed this morning," she said.

"We are talking about neighbours and people that heard things earlier in the evening and when the shooting took place."

Police also said that they would oppose any bail application when Pistorius appears before a local court at 7am tomorrow.

Paramedics were called to his home between 4am and 5am local time.

Police arrived shortly afterwards and a 9mm pistol was recovered from the scene.


"The deceased was shot four times and died on the scene," said police spokesman Katlego Mogale.

"It is believed that she was the girlfriend of the accused."

Steenkamp's body was removed by a hearse at around 8am.

Pistorius and Steenkamp had reportedly been seeing each other since last November.

He became the first double leg amputee to take part in the Olympics when he entered the men's 400 metres race and was a member of the men's 4x400m relay team at London 2012.

He also won gold at last summer's Paralympics in the men's 400m in a Paralympics record time of 46.68sec and in the 4x100 relay in a world record time of 41.78.

He also won silver in the 200m race having set a world record time of 21.30 in the semifinal.

Pistorius had made his Paralympic debut at Athens 2004 when he won gold medal in the T44 200m and bronze in the 100m.

At Beijing four years later he claimed the 100m, 200m and 400m treble.

South Africa has among the highest rates of crime in the world and many residents keep weapons to protect themselves against intruders.

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