3 SOUGHT FOR QUESTIONING IN FATAL SHOOTING OF BOY.

Byline: Jaxon Van Derbeken Daily News Staff Writer

Police are seeking three young men who may have witnessed the Saturday night attack in North Hollywood which killed an 11-year-old boy as he was being driven home in his mother's mini-van.

The three people - in their late teens or early 20s - were present at the scene after the 9 p.m. shooting and then disappeared when police lines were set up, officials said.

``Two or three people heard them talking,'' said Los Angeles Police Department Detective Mike Coffey. ``They were shooed away by the police when they were making the perimeter wider to allow the helicopter (to) land.''

Police have few leads in the fatal shooting of Paul Youhanian. No bullet has been recovered in the area of the shooting - Sherman Way near Whitsett Avenue - and no witnesses have come forward, Coffey said.

``Nothing seems to be panning out here,'' he said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich announced Wednesday he will propose a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the boy's killer. The City Council is already offering a $25,000 reward.

On Wednesday, Coffey said the three young men being sought for questioning as witnesses were either white or Latinos with light skin.

``The citizens said they just seemed to see what happened by the way they are talking,'' he said. ``Nobody had seen them before in the area, but they were hanging around when the police were there.''

Coffey said he is operating on the assumption that the bullet that killed Youhanian was meant for someone else.

``I don't think very many people on the face of this Earth who would fire a shot to kill an 11-year-old boy,'' he said. ``I think he is a random victim.''

A funeral is set for Friday for Paul Youhanian at the North Hollywood church he and his father attended.

Visitation will be held tonight at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Hollywood Hills. Viewing hours are 6 to 9 p.m. at the Faith Chapel on the cemetery grounds, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive.

The funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Paul Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church, 13050 Vanowen St., said the Rev. Emanuel Isho. Paul was of Assyrian descent; born in Iran, he moved with his family to the United States when he was an infant.

Interment will follow at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, Isho said.