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South African douple-amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius is facing a murder charge after his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was shot and killed at his home in Pretoria, BBC reported.

Police were called to the house in the early hours of the morning, where they found paramedics treating a 29-year-old woman with gunshot wounds to the head and upper body. She died at the scene.

Officers have recovered a 9mm pistol.

A 26-year-old man will appear in court on Friday.

Early reports said Mr Pistorius might have mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder at his home in the upmarket Silver Woods gated compound on the outskirts of South Africa's administrative capital.

However, police say neighbours heard screaming and shouting around the time of the shooting, and that they had been called to investigate incidents of a domestic nature at the same house in the past.

They also said that they would oppose any bail application.

Mr Pistorius, 26, was the first double amputee to run in the Olympics.

Known as the "blade runner", Mr Pistorius races wearing carbon fibre prosthetic blades after he was born without a fibula in both legs and had his legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday.

For years he dominated in his category at successive Paralympic Games, but in 2008 he won a legal battle over his blades with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for the right to compete in able-bodied competitions.

He reached the 400m semi-finals in the London 2012 Olympics. At the Paralympics he won silver in the T44 200m, gold in the 4x100 relay and gold in the T44 400m, setting a Paralympic record.