The fatal shootings of three Soboba tribal members by Riverside County sheriff's deputies in May are being reviewed by the district attorney's office, authorities said Wednesday.

Sheriff's investigators late last month turned over a "package" of information that includes statements of witnesses, autopsy results and other evidence to help prosecutors decide whether criminal charges should be filed against the deputies involved in the shootings, Sgt. Dean Spivacke said.

No decision is likely until sometime in October, he said.

In most situations, Spivacke said, it would take about 30 days for a decision, but in a complex case like this, it will likely take longer. Jack L. Schwartz, an attorney for the families of those killed, said he doesn't expect the district attorney's office to prosecute the deputies.

"I would expect that (the sheriff's investigators) would find absolutely nothing done wrong by the sheriff because that's the way these things work," he said Wednesday. "I have no reason to believe that a prosecutor that has to work with that police agency forever is going to do anything to ruin their relationship."

The families might have more confidence in the investigation if an outside agency, such as the state attorney general's office, had investigated the shootings, Schwartz said.

On May 12, deputies killed Joseph Arres, 36, and Tamara Angela Hurtado, 29, in a gunbattle in a remote part of the reservation east of San Jacinto.

The two tribal members were shot multiple times by SWAT officers, who said they had been fired upon by one of the two.

Nine deputies fired their weapons in that incident, authorities said. Four days earlier, deputies shot and killed 26-year-old Eli Morillo after they went to investigate gunfire on a remote part of the reservation and found themselves under attack, authorities said.

Five deputies fired in the first shooting. Relatives for Arres and Hurtado have filed claims alleging deputies used unreasonable and excessive force against the pair and that they were unarmed. While specific information from the autopsy has not been released yet, Spivacke has said Arres and Hurtado were shot multiple times and the injuries were in the front of their bodies, indicating they were shot while facing the deputies.

In addition to the criminal investigation, internal affairs detectives conducted a parallel administrative investigation that looked into whether deputies followed department policies and procedures.

Spivacke said that investigation is not complete.

Soboba Chairman Robert Salgado declined to comment.