The family of a 29-year-old Soboba tribal member who died in a gunfight with sheriff's deputies has filed a wrongful death claim against Riverside County, arguing the tribal member was unarmed when she was shot and killed.

The claim was received Wednesday by Riverside County officials. The family of Tamara Angela Hurtado brought the claim for unspecified damages and funeral and medical expenses. The family said one or more Sheriff's Department employees used unreasonable and excessive force against Hurtado and that she did not pose a threat at the time of her death.

Hurtado and fellow tribal member Joseph Arres, 36, died May 12 in a shootout on a remote section of the reservation. SWAT officers, who said they were fired upon by Arres or Hurtado, shot the two multiple times.

The shooting came days after the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Eli Morillo, a Soboba tribal member, in a gun battle with deputies. Sheriff's Sgt. Dean Spivacke said evidence indicates that both Arres and Hurtado were armed when they were shot by deputies. There was an SKS assault rifle found next to Hurtado's body and deputies indicated she was brandishing the weapon when she was shot, Spivacke said.

While specific information from the autopsy is not being released yet, Spivacke said Arres and Hurtado were shot multiple times and the injuries were sustained in the front of their bodies, indicating they were shot while facing the deputies.

Jack L. Schwartz, the attorney representing Hurtado's family, declined to offer details on why he believes Hurtado was unarmed, saying that information would come out at trial.

Claims against local governments are the first step toward filing a lawsuit. When they are rejected, lawyers can say they exhausted the remedy and then sue.

Schwartz, a longtime activist in Indian civil rights, already has filed one claim against the county in a separate shooting involving Gordon Davis Arres. Gordon Arres, 26, was shot and killed Dec. 28, 2007, by a Riverside County sheriff's deputy after two deputies stopped the vehicle in which he was riding in Hemet.

In both claims, Schwartz alleges that the county and its employees were biased against the Soboba tribal members because of their race.

Hurtado's claim names her parents, Gary Hurtado and Mary Morris, along with her child, Manuel Hurtado, as her heirs.

Reach Michelle DeArmond at 951-368-9441 or mdearmond@PE.com