Edited sentence: He was 26 years old.On November 9, 2002, nine months after the show ended, Merlin Santana was shot in the head and killed while sitting in his friend's (Brandon Adams) car in South Central Los Angeles, California.The episode of The Steve Harvey Show immediately following Santana's death was dedicated to his honor.The reason for his death is that the killer's girlfriend falsely stated that Santana tried to rape her