AZ Sheriff Issues Gag Order for Giffords Shooting Investigators

The Pima County Sheriff’s department has “suddenly turned off the flow of information” surrounding the January 8 Tucson shooting incident, KGUN reports.

On Wednesday, a department spokesman issued this bizarrely brief statement:

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

The spokesman offered no further information about the “controversy,” and the statement abruptly canceled a number of previously scheduled interviews, including a live on-air interview with the Sheriff‘s Bureau Chief Richard Kastigar and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.