One Year After Shooting, Pistorius Speaks

Calls Reeva Steenkamp's death a 'devastating accident'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 14, 2014 6:04 AM CST
Updated Feb 14, 2014 7:31 AM CST
1 Year After Shooting, Pistorius Speaks
In this file photo taken on Monday, Aug, 19, 2013, Oscar Pistorius, the celebrated athlete who became a murder suspect.   (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

The last time Oscar Pistorius tweeted was Feb. 12, 2013, two days before he shot and killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in what he maintains was a tragic accident in which he mistook her for an intruder. Today brought a new tweet: "A few words from my heart on oscarpistorius.com." There, the double-amputee Olympian posted a brief statement. It reads in part: "No words can adequately capture my feelings about the devastating accident" that "consumes me with sorrow. The loss of Reeva and the complete trauma of that day, I will carry with me for the rest of my life."

Meanwhile, Steenkamp's parents, Barry and June, released a statement of their own. "All we are looking for is closure and to know that our daughter did not suffer on that tragic Valentine's Day," they said, per the Guardian. Steenkamp's uncle noted a private family gathering would be held today in Cape Town to mark the anniversary. "We will release balloons in her memory," he told the AFP. "They will be red and white, her favorite colors." Steenkamp's parents also said a foundation, possibly focusing on women's abuse issues, would be set up in their daughter's honor once Pistorius' murder trial is over. It begins March 3. (More Oscar Pistorius stories.)

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