Star to Help Pay for Boy’s Funeral : Victims: The parents of a youth killed in a drive-by shooting are kick-boxing champions. Chuck Norris is a family friend.

Martial arts film star Chuck Norris said this week he will help pay for the funeral of a Sylmar teen-ager--the son of international kick-boxing champions--who was killed Saturday in a gang-related drive-by shooting. Sonny Rodriguez, 16, was fatally shot in the chest while riding with friends in a car in the 12900 block of Borden Avenue in Sylmar.

The victim’s parents, William (Blinky) and Lilly Rodriguez, have won international acclaim in kick boxing, an Asian sport similar to traditional boxing that allows the use of feet as well as fists. The boy’s uncle, Benny Urquidez, is one of the world’s top kick boxers. Norris is a family friend and knew Sonny Rodriguez.

“He was a real good athlete,” Norris said. “Blinky and I trained together and Blinky was always hurrying off to his son’s football games.

“They were a very close family and very religious. I lost a brother in Vietnam, so I can understand how it feels.”

Because the family has been struggling financially, Norris said, he will contribute to a trust fund to cover the funeral costs, which also will be aided by a benefit kick-boxing event today at the Hollywood Palladium.

“I feel very fortunate I have the support of so many people,” Blinky Rodriguez said.

Sonny Rodriguez was shot once in the chest about 1 a.m. Saturday, police said.

Rodriguez, who was unarmed, was awkwardly learning to drive a manual transmission in a friend’s car. Three young men in a 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass pulled up beside the auto, shouted gang slogans and one fired a handgun. “They shot twice, made a U-turn, came back and shot a couple more times,” said Los Angeles Police Detective Steve Fisk.

Based on information from witnesses, police on Sunday arrested Mario Hernandez, 20, and Lorenzo Martinez, 19, both of Pacoima, and a 17-year-old whose name was withheld because of his age.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward Nison said one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder were filed this week against the three suspects. Martinez and Hernandez pleaded not guilty Tuesday in San Fernando Municipal Court and were ordered to return Feb. 20 for a preliminary hearing.

The 17-year-old will be arraigned today in Sylmar Juvenile Court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle Rosenblatt said. She said the district attorney’s office is seeking to have the suspect tried as an adult. All three were being held without bail.

Fisk said the juvenile, who is believed to have shot Rodriguez, was in another car that was fired upon earlier in the night. “So he decided to go out and find a gang member from another gang,” Fisk said. “Any rival gang member would do. That’s the way it’s done in the gang world.”

He said police have information that Rodriguez was a member of the gang the three were gunning for. He declined to identify the gangs.

Family members and friends said that they do not believe Sonny belonged to a gang but conceded that some of his friends were gang members and wore gang-style clothing. “I was very worried, the way he was dressing and where he was hanging out,” said Sonny’s brother, Robert, 20.

They preferred to remember his athletic skills and his sense of humor.

“He was a real outgoing type of guy, always telling jokes,” said a friend, Rudy Rodriguez, 14, of Sylmar.

Although he excelled on youth football and baseball teams and won many kick-boxing tournaments--after training at the gym run by his uncle and parents--Sonny was less attentive to schoolwork.

He and his family were active in Victory Outreach, a Sepulveda church.

“I know that it was an act of mercy on the part of God because my son was going to walk up a road that was going to be devastating beyond his imagination,” Blinky Rodriguez said. “He was going to turn his back on God and his family. God, in his mercy, took my son before he was totally deceived by Satan.”

Rodriguez said he hopes Sonny’s death will help persuade other young people to avoid involvement with gangs.

“It’s changed me a lot,” said Randy Garcia, 14, of Sylmar, Sonny’s friend for 10 years. “I used to dress like a gang member. I’m not going to do that anymore because I don’t want to end up like him.”