Arrest follows actor shooting

Merlin Santana was "not a gangster"

A woman has been arrested over the killing of United States actor Merlin Santana, who was shot dead on Saturday.

Santana, 26, had appeared in film comedy Showtime and TV sitcom The Steve Harvey Show.

Los Angeles police said the arrest was made on Monday, but did not give any other details.

Whatever the situation was, he didn't deserve to die

Steve Harvey
TV host

The actor was shot as he sat in the passenger seat of a parked car at about 0230 local time (1030 GMT) on Saturday.

"The investigation is ongoing, and no further comment will be given at this time," a police spokesman said.

Santana was seen as a rising star, playing Hector in Showtime alongside Murphy and Robert De Niro.

But he was best-known in the US for playing bumbling student Romeo in The Steve Harvey Show, which ran for six years until February.

'No alternative'

"This kid is not a gangster," Harvey said on a Los Angeles TV station on Monday.

"Whatever the situation was, he didn't deserve to die.

"Why is it that young people today feel they have no alternative but to murder somebody?"

On Monday, police said at least one person approached the car and shot Santana.

The driver was not injured and flagged down police. Paramedics were called, but the actor was pronounced dead at the scene.

Award nominations

Born in New York, Santana got one of his first breaks playing an eight-year-old admirer of Rudy Huxtable in hit TV comedy The Cosby Show.

His role in The Steve Harvey Show earned him several nominations for awards honouring black and Hispanic actors.

He was also seen in sitcoms Getting By and Moesha, and drama Under One Roof with James Earl Jones.

One of his last roles was as a rapper caught up in the violent east coast-west coast hip-hop feud for a VH1 movie.