Similarities in shootings involving Belcher, Pistorius
Barb Shelly
If reports out of South Africa are accurate, the tragedy involving athlete Oscar Pistorius and his murdered girlfriend has some inescapable parallels to what we saw in Kansas City when Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher murdered his girlfriend Dec. 1.
Pistorius is charged with the murder of 30-year-old Reeva Steenkamp. Like 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins, the mother of Belcher’s infant daughter, Steenkamp was shot multiple times in the bathroom.
In both cases, there were indications of trouble before the shooting. The Chiefs organization had tried to counsel Belcher and Perkins about their relationship. Police said they had been to the residence of Pistorius on domestic calls in the past, though it is unclear from the reports I’ve seen if those calls involved Steenkamp.
Pistorius and Belcher both reportedly were fascinated by guns and kept multiple weapons at their homes.
Make of it what you will. My take is that combustible situations and personalities and the presence of weapons are a formula for tragedy. Unfortunately, the two components are often found together.
It’s hard for societies to find the will to remedy the situation by law. But we can tell our sisters and daughters and friends to look for the warnings signs. Watch and beware.
Comments
No comments have been posted. Perhaps you'd like to be the first?