Pima sheriff cuts off info on Giffords shooting

Posted Jan 19, 2011

Dylan Smith
TucsonSentinel.com

The Pima County Sheriff's Department will no longer release information regarding the Jan. 8 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others, a release said.

A terse, one-sentence statement from the department was put out early Wednesday afternoon:

Until further notice, due to a controversy between the Sheriff's Department and the County Attorney's office, no further information reference (sic) the January 8, 2011 shooting will be released.

A department spokesman couldn't offer any more information.

"I have no idea" what the controversy is about, said Deputy Jason Ogan. "I don't know anything more."

Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall's office has not yet made any comment on the sheriff's release.

The county attorney is still examining the option of charging accused shooter Jared Loughner with state crimes, but "no decisions have been made," said Isabel Burruel-Smutzer, LaWall's executive assistant.

Loughner faces 5 federal counts in the mass shooting.

KGUN9 reported that the announcement led to the cancellation of a CNN interview with Bureau Chief Richard Kastigar.

Kastigar has been describing the graphic security camera footage of the shootings outside a Northwest Side Safeway.

The sheriff's department has released information on the shooting at least daily since Jan. 8, and posted its announcements on its website.

Six died in the incident, and 13 others were shot. All except Giffords have been released from the hospital. Giffords faces a lengthy period of rehabilitation after being shot through the brain, doctors said.