2 Suspects Fatally Shot, 1 Wounded in Drug Raid : Law enforcement: Gunfire erupts as deputies try to serve a warrant at an Altadena apartment.

A midday shootout between sheriff’s deputies and drug suspects Tuesday in Altadena left two suspects dead and one critically wounded.

In the barrage of gunfire, one deputy was shot in the little finger of his right hand, but the wound was minor, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Larry Lincoln said one man died at the scene of the 1:15 p.m. shootout at an apartment in the 2300 block of Fair Oaks Avenue. Two other people inside the apartment were wounded and one died later at a hospital. Names were not released pending notification of families.

Lincoln said the violence erupted as a sheriff’s narcotics unit was serving a search warrant on an upstairs apartment at the rear of a liquor store.

The deputies had the apartment under surveillance, Lincoln said, and when they saw a group of people go inside with what appeared to be cocaine, they went to the door with the warrant.

When no one answered, Lincoln said, the deputies broke down the door and the occupants of the apartment opened fire.

Three other people in the apartment were uninjured and were taken into custody. Inside, Lincoln said, deputies found one kilogram of cocaine and two semiautomatic handguns.

Arrested were Jose Sevilla, 27, Oscar Quinones, 24, and Manuel Rodriguez, 25, authorities said.

The three were booked on charges of suspected sale of a controlled substance and suspicion of murder.