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The shooting deaths of two brothers who led police on a 130-mile pursuit in a stolen car Wednesday were a murder and suicide, authorities said.

One of the men was a Marine with tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Travis N. Twiggs, 36, and Willard J. Twiggs, 38, were wanted in a carjacking on Monday at the Grand Canyon, said Mike Minter, a Pinal County Sheriff's Department spokesman.

The pursuit began at about 10 a.m. after Border Patrol agents working at the Interstate 8 checkpoint west of Sentinel noticed a car traveling on a frontage road, said Eric Anderson, Border Patrol Yuma Sector spokesman.

Vehicles don't usually use the road, so agents asked the driver to stop, and he did.

But the agents became suspicious while talking to the two men and told them to pull into a secondary inspection area, he said. Instead, they sped away.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter began following the vehicle while agents in vehicles pursued it on I-8.

As they approached Pinal County, the agents requested assistance from the Pinal County Sheriff's Department, Minter said.

At Stanfield Road, about 40 miles west of where I-8 meets Interstate 10, the Tohono O'odham Police Department used spike strips to deflate the car's tires, Minter said.

Still, the vehicle continued on about a mile until it left the road, he said.

When the car stopped, Border Patrol agents and Pinal deputies approached it, but they backed off after hearing two shots, Minter said.

Helicopters watched the vehicle, and after about 20 minutes Pinal deputies were again able to approach it, Minter said.

Inside, they found the brothers dead, Minter said. It is believed that Travis Twiggs shot his older brother and then himself.

Travis Twiggs was in the Marine Corps and was most recently assigned to the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory at the Quantico, Va., base, said 1st Lt. Brian P. Donnelly, a Quantico spokesman.

He entered the Marines in 1993. As of May 5, Twiggs was on unauthorized absence, Donnelly said.

Travis Twiggs wrote about his battle with post-traumatic-stress disorder in the Marine Corps Gazette.

In the article, Twiggs said he served four tours of duty, three in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, and realized changes in himself after the second tour, including being irritable and paranoid.

He received the combat action ribbon, meaning he did see combat, Donnelly said.

In his writings, Twiggs detailed the treatment he underwent for post-traumatic stress and encouraged others who might suffer from it to get help.

Donnelly could not confirm the number of times Twiggs was deployed and could not discuss whether he suffered from post-traumatic stress for privacy reasons.

The brothers were being sought after Grand Canyon visitors reported a single-vehicle accident in which two men walked away carrying large backpacks, said Shannan Marcak, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service.

Authorities began searching for the men to ensure they didn't need medical attention but couldn't find them, she said.

There was strong evidence the men were trying to drive off the rim into the Canyon, based on where the vehicle was found, Marcak said.

Later that evening, a man and a woman reported they were carjacked by two armed men, Marcak said. The descriptions of the carjackers matched those of the men who walked away from the accident. They were identified as the Twiggs brothers.

A revolver was seized from the stolen car, a rental, on Wednesday, Minter said.

There was no suicide note.