LOS ANGELES -- Riverside County sheriff's deputies shot and killed two people Monday evening after a running gun battle in which the suspects opened fire on guards outside the entrance to a San Jacinto Indian reservation and shot at a sheriff's helicopter and SWAT team members.
The incident began about 6:20 p.m. when security guards for the Soboba Indian reservation reported to sheriff's dispatchers that they were taking fire and that a guard had been wounded.
Riverside County Sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said investigators later determined that the guards were unhurt. But they said their deputies were fired upon repeatedly by the suspects during an hourlong gun battle east of the Soboba Casino.
The gunfight included at least nine shots that the suspects fired at a sheriff's helicopter.
Deputies exchanged gunfire with the suspects as did SWAT team members, Gutierrez said. The suspects were later pronounced dead.
E-mail the author at andrew.blankstein@latimes.com.