Family feuds and firearms have long been a part of life on the Soboba Indian reservation, with fatal outbreaks in violence interspersed with periods of relative calm.

Historically, many of the disputes involved a handful of warring families. Law-abiding members of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians tried to stay above the fray. Neighbors complained about errant bullets flying into their homes, and law enforcement worked to keep the peace, generally remaining unscathed.

But things took a dramatic turn for the worse this past week when deputies came under fire and gunned down three tribal members in two separate shootouts, prompting outrage from a frustrated and fatigued tribal chairman, Robert Salgado, who described the situation as a "war."

The tribal chairman was outraged when deputies locked down the reservation, questioned his members and didn't give him information or access to the bodies. Although local law enforcement has the legal authority to patrol Indian reservations in California, Salgado felt the sheriff's department disrespected him and his position as tribal leader.

"Things have changed," Salgado observed last week. "I think there's been a distance between us and the Sheriff's" Department.

How and why that relationship changed is unclear to Sgt. Dean Spivacke, who patrolled the reservation in the early 1990s and is investigating the recent fatal shootings.

"I really wish I knew," he said.

The 6,886-acre Soboba reservation is home to about 500 people, although the tribe has about 900 members and welcomes many guests every day onto its reservation for gambling and entertainment. The tribe runs Soboba Casino in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains and hopes to expand its reservation.

Salgado, who has led the tribe for much of the past few decades, is a prominent tribal leader and recently received the Wendell Chino Humanitarian Award from the National Indian Gaming Association in recognition of his leadership.

Violent history

Back in the 1990s, Spivacke remembers hearing gunfire from a distance as he patrolled the dusty roads that snake through the hilly reservation. Spivacke said he did not ask for backup, but rather interpreted the gunfire as a message.

"I figured they were just letting me know they knew I was there," he said.

Sheriff's Capt. Larry Grotefend patrolled the Soboba Reservation as a deputy during the 1970s, when most of the violence there was among tribal members.

A years-long dispute among warring families had left several tribal members dead or injured -- the animosity was directed for the most part at each other and not the deputies.

"Most of the time we were just trying to keep the peace," said Grotefend, who spent various stints at the department's Hemet station between 1977 and 1990 as a deputy, sergeant and lieutenant. "There were some problems, but for the most part they were not coming after us."

The feuds among rival families started, by one account, in 1970 with the New Year's Eve killing of tribal member Steve Modesto. They appeared to culminate with the April 1983 slaying of a brother and sister who were shot near the St. Joseph's Catholic Church on the reservation. Marco Mojado, 30, of Banning, and Soboba resident Fawn Basquez Duro, 26, were killed moments apart.

Authorities took about 20 reservation residents into custody, although no one was ever charged in connection with the double homicide.

Less than a week later, someone started a fire on the reservation and responding deputies and firefighters were fired upon. One California Department of Forestry fire truck was struck, although no one was injured.

Grotefend said the first time he saw problems between the tribe and officers was in 1977 when a deputy's patrol car traveling through a remote portion of the reservation -- with a tribal council member inside -- was fired upon. The deputy radioed for immediate help and Grotefend and others arrived en masse.

"They were shooting at both of them," Grotefend recalled. "Luckily, no one was hurt."

At that time, Grotefend said, the department and tribal council had a good relationship. Deputies would sometimes work overtime helping with the popular motorcycle races held on the reservation, he said.

"I didn't get a sense that there was animosity from most of the people out there," he said. "There were some families that didn't like us. But there were many law-abiding, hard-working people. Great people, good citizens.

"There was a small group of people causing the problems."

Grotefend said the violence on the reservation seems to go in cycles, with long periods in which someone would be killed or hurt, then the subsequent retaliation. That would be followed by periods of relative calm.

Rose Salgado, longtime tribal council member and sister of the current chairman, conceded the tribe has had its share of violence, but said it is not reflective of the entire community, a sentiment echoed by Grotefend.

"The majority of people living there are law-abiding," Grotefend said. "They are good people who just want to go to work, take care of their families and come home safe."

The tribe, which has become wealthy in recent years with the success of a 2,000-slot machine casino, tried to step up law enforcement on the reservation a couple years ago but then changed its mind.

The tribe signed a supplemental law-enforcement agreement with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department in 2005, then canceled it a year later when tribal members complained they weren't getting the level of service they had anticipated.

Under Public Law 280, a federal law that applies to only California and a handful of other states, local law enforcement has the authority to enforce laws on reservations. Some tribes, especially those with casino profits, have signed special agreements with local law enforcement for dedicated officers to patrol their reservations.

Salgado said the Soboba tribe's relationship has suffered since the tribe canceled its contract.

Things have grown worse in recent months with multiple shootings between police and tribal members since December, when one tribal member was shot after being stopped in his vehicle in Hemet.

Rebuilding

Tribal leaders, with the help of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, tried to begin rebuilding those ties on Friday with a closed-door meeting with sheriff's department representatives. All sides declined to offer any details afterward except to describe it as a productive "first step" toward a new operation plan. They scheduled a second one for 10 a.m. Friday.

Salgado apologized at the start of the meeting for his heated rhetoric -- which included saying deputies wanted to shoot now and ask questions later -- in days prior, The Associated Press reported.

Manuel Hamilton, vice chairman of the Ramona Band of Cahuilla Indians near Anza, said in a telephone interview he understood Salgado's frustration and challenges.

"He can't really give any answers to what's going on to ease members' concerns," he said. "It's difficult."

Poor relationships with law enforcement and a lack of concrete plans for how to work together when tragedies strike have made it difficult for tribes in cases like this one, he said.

Hamilton said he was offering prayers and support to the tribe and wants tribal leaders to work together with one another and law enforcement to fight the crime problems that plague many reservations. Too much money and time and too little education and family support have created disastrous results for many tribes, he said.

"It took us a long to get there and it's not going to be solved overnight," he said. "We need to take control."

Staff writer Amanda Strindberg contributed to this report.

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