LAS VEGAS -- A husband and wife who went on a deadly shooting rampage in Las Vegas harbored anti-government beliefs and left a swastika and a "Don't tread on me" flag on the body of one of the two police officers they killed, authorities said Monday.

Jerad and Amanda Miller had been kicked off a Nevada ranch where anti-government protesters faced down federal agents earlier this year, said a son of rancher Cliven Bundy, adding that the couple were "very radical."

Assistant Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the Millers harbored an ideology shared by "militia and white supremacists," including the belief that law enforcement was an "oppressor."

Police think the shootings were an isolated act, not part of a broader conspiracy to target law enforcement officers, McMahill said.

Ammon Bundy, one of Cliven Bundy's sons, said the Millers were at his father's ranch for a few days this spring before they were asked to leave by militia members for unspecified "conduct" problems. He called the couple "very radical" and said they "did not align themselves" with the beliefs of other protesters, who thwarted a roundup of Cliven Bundy's cattle by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which wants to collect more than $1 million in grazing fees and penalties.

On Sunday, the two Las Vegas police officers were having lunch at a pizza buffet about 5 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip when the Millers fatally shot them. The attack at a CiCi's Pizza killed officers Alyn Beck, 41, and Igor Soldo, 31.

McMahill said the Millers left a neighbor's apartment where they had been staying early Sunday and walked to the strip mall, about 5 miles away.

Jerad Miller went briefly into the restaurant, then left and got his wife, leaving their backpacks outside.

The two officers were sitting in a booth. Jerad Miller fatally shot Soldo in the back of the head. As his partner tried to react, Miller shot him once in the throat. Amanda Miller then pulled her gun and both shot Beck several times, McMahill said.

Police believe that though the Millers wanted to target police, the choice of Soldo and Beck was random.

Pulling the wounded officers from the booth, they took their guns and ammunition and put a yellow Gadsden flag featuring the phrase "Don't tread on me" and a swastika on Beck's body, McMahill said. The flag, with its roots in the American Revolution, is a symbol for anti-government groups.

The couple told restaurant patrons that their act was "the beginning of the revolution," the same message as a note they left at the restaurant. That's also what the Millers told customers at a Wal-Mart about a block away after the couple fled the restaurant.

In the frenzy after Jerad Miller fired one round and told people to get out, shopper Joseph Wilcox told friends he was going to confront Jerad Miller -- not realizing that Amanda Miller was his accomplice. Wilcox went from the checkout area to Miller and pulled his concealed firearm. But before he could fire, Amanda Miller shot him in the ribs and Wilcox collapsed, McMahill said.

"Joseph died trying to protect others," Sheriff Doug Gillespie said.

Police had arrived by that time, and two five-officer teams entered the store. Near the back, one team confronted the Millers and exchanged fire. At one point, Jerad Miller tried to blast a rear emergency exit door open with a shotgun, but police had blocked it with a car and he could not escape.

One officer went with store security to screens showing feeds from surveillance cameras and saw that Jerad Miller had built a makeshift barricade around his wife.

As police closed in, Amanda Miller shot her husband several times with a handgun, killing him. She then shot herself in the head. When officers arrived, she was still breathing. She was taken to a hospital, where she later died.

The Millers moved to the Las Vegas area in January, police said. Amanda Miller had worked at a Hobby Lobby craft store until she was fired in April, the chain store said in a statement.

Jerad Miller, 31, was convicted of felony vehicle theft in Washington state as well as several other offenses, including phone harassment, driving under the influence, theft and malicious mischief, between 2001 and 2003, according to a Washington State Patrol database.

He also had a criminal record in Indiana.

Information for this article was contributed by Eugene Johnson and Judith Ausuebel of The Associated Press.

A Section on 06/10/2014