RUNAWAY CHARGED IN SANTANA KILLING.

Byline: Ryan Oliver and Michael Gougis Staff Writers

A teenage girl who was one of the hundreds of runaways from the custody of Los Angeles County's troubled Children's Services Department is charged in the murder of North Hollywood actor Merlin Santana, law enforcement sources disclosed Thursday.

At a news conference, Los Angeles police announced that two other suspects in the case - Damien Andre Gates, 20, and Brandon Douglas Bynes, 23 - were taken into custody on suspicion of murder after officers served a search warrant in the 3700 block of Fourth Avenue in Southwest Los Angeles.

The actor was gunned down in the predawn hours of Nov. 9 as he sat with a male friend, the 15-year-old suspect and a 14-year-old girl in the 3800 block of Victoria Avenue when at least one person approached and opened fire, police said.

The sources said the 15-year-old runaway from county custody was arrested two days after the slaying. District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said the girl has been charged with murder and attempted murder, and that prosecutors will seek to have her certified as an adult at a Dec. 10 hearing.

The girl's name was not released publicly because she is a juvenile.

Robbery-Homicide Detective Brian Carr said the county's Department of Social Services had issued an alert asking law enforcement to watch for the 15-year-old girl ``at least a couple of months ago.'' He said the girl had run away from a social services facility, but would not elaborate further.

The Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services has recently come under fire after an internal report revealed nearly 500 foster children are reported as missing from the agency. Officials later revised that figure to 740.

LAPD Robbery-Homicide Lt. Jim Tatreau said Santana and his friend were acquaintances of the two teenage girls, but he would not characterize their relationship further other than to say it was not a romantic one. He also would not reveal why Santana was in the neighborhood at the time of the shooting.

``I don't want to get into details,'' Tatreau said, adding, ``I don't believe Mr. Santana was involved in any misconduct or criminal conduct.''

Tatreau would not say what the motive for the slaying was, but he did say the girls knew the two men arrested in the shooting.

``You can ask the girls what they think as to what the motive was,'' he said. ``But it clearly wasn't any motive for anything like this.''

The 14-year-old girl in the car at the time of the slaying will likely not be charged with any crime, he said. The two men arrested were both armed at the time of the shooting, but police would not say which was the trigger man.

Santana, 26, was best known for his role as Romeo Santana on ``The Steve Harvey Show,'' and recently appeared in the Eddie Murphy and Robert De Niro movie ``Showtime.''

The slaying occurred in the South Los Angeles, which has experienced a rash of shootings in recent days. In announcing the arrest of the two additional suspects at a news conference Thursday, LAPD Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell tied the closing of the case to a renewed emphasis by the department on tackling serious crime.

``We're going to do aggressive enforcement action and do that without violating the rights of citizens,'' he said. ``The message is loud and clear: Stop the violence.''