Riverside County Deputy Killed at Housing Complex : Violence: Kent Hindergardt was shot to death while answering a call in Temecula. A woman also was found dead, officials said.

A Riverside County sheriff’s deputy who was called to a Temecula apartment where a man had killed a woman early Sunday was shot and killed before he could draw his gun, deputies said.

The suspect later committed suicide, officials said.

Law enforcement officers in Los Angeles County also shot three men during the weekend, killing two.

In Riverside County, Deputy Kent Hindergardt, a two-year veteran of the department, was answering a call around 2 a.m., said Detective Henry Sawicki. There had been reports of shouting and yelling in the Sycamore Terrace apartments in Temecula, 85 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Hindergardt’s gun was holstered as he stepped out of his patrol car to speak with a man in the parking lot, who had a 12-year-old boy at his side.

The man, identified as Mark John Kamaka, 37, shot Hindergardt and Kamaka fled with his son, Sawicki said. Kamaka released the boy unhurt along Interstate 15 near Lake Elsinore, then drove off onto a residential street about five miles away and shot himself, Sawicki said. Private security guards found Kamaka’s body in his car about 7:50 a.m., Sawicki said.

Kamaka’s estranged girlfriend, identified as Allison Jacobs, was found dead in her apartment. Sheriff’s deputies believe he killed her while the woman’s 6-year-old daughter was in another room.

Hindergardt and Jacobs were pronounced dead at a Murrieta hospital, said Riverside County Deputy Coroner Alan Wesefeldt. The woman did not appear to have been shot, Sawicki said.

Hindergardt is survived by a pregnant wife and young child. Sawicki said the killing of Hindergardt, on Mother’s Day, marked the first killing of a Riverside County deputy since a shootout in May, 1980, with bank robbers who were cornered in Lytle Creek Canyon.

“When we went into the (murdered woman’s) apartment there were cards and drawings the little girl had made for her mom,” Sawicki said. “Seeing that, and the fact of losing one of our fellow officers, made it really kind of difficult for our deputies.”

Sawicki said that the 6-year-old girl and Kamaka’s 12-year-old boy--who phoned the California Highway Patrol from a freeway call box after his father dropped him off--were placed in the care of relatives.

On Sunday, a Monrovia police officer who was wearing a bulletproof vest was treated and released after being shot in the chest about 3:10 a.m. by a man reportedly acting in a bizarre manner at a business park, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

The gunman, identified only as a 39-year-old white male, was shot to death by another officer, authorities said.

Another man was shot to death Saturday night by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in the Athens area. Sheriff’s Deputy Ron Weber said the man shot at three deputies, who were investigating a report of a man firing a gun outside a duplex.

A second man at the same address was then shot in the abdomen by a fourth deputy and remained hospitalized after surgery. Weber said the shooting occurred seconds after the other three officers killed the first suspect. Weber said the second man was found to be unarmed.

“He was running toward him in a crouched position and the deputy feared he was armed,” Weber said. “Under the circumstances, the deputy felt threatened.”

Weber said both shootings are under investigation.

In the Monrovia shooting, police declined to identify either the officer who was wounded or the man killed by another officer’s return fire. Deputies said Monrovia officers had arrived at the Dootson business park and found two men arguing. One man fired four shots at the officers and was shot numerous times by one of the officers, authorities said. He died at the scene.